V GIFT OF Thomas H. Means m : \ * * G A R D E N I N G F R A GUIDE TO THE SUCCESSFUL CULTIVATION OF THE MARKET AND FAMILY GARDEN ENTIRELY NEW AND GREATLY ENLARGED. BY PETER HENDERSON, JERSEY CITY HEIGHTS, N. J. ILLUSTEATED WITH NUMEBOUS NEW E1TOKAVINGS, NEW YORK: 0. JUDD CO., DAVID W. JUDD, PRES'T, 751 BROADWAY. 1887. dus Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1886, by the O. JUDD CO., In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. CONTENTS. Introduction .. vii Preface to Second Edition x Preface to Third Edition xi CHAPTER I. The Men Fitted for the Business of Gardening 13 CHAPTER II. The Amount of Capital Required and Working Force per Acre 17 CHAPTER III. Profits of Market Gardening.. 20 CHAPTER IV. Location, Situation and Laying Out 23 CHAPTER V. Soil, Drainage and Preparation . 25 CHAPTER VI. Manures 33 CHAPTER VII. The Use and Management of Cold Frames--.' 44 CHAPTER VIII. Formation and Management of Hot-Beds 56 CHAPTER IX. Forcing-Pits for Greenhouses - 63 CHAPTER X. Wide Greenhouses for Forcing Vegetable Crops 73 CHAPTER XI. Seeds and Seed Raising 89 (in) 678995 IV CONTENTS. CHAPTER XII. The Use of the Feet in Sowing and Planting 96 CHAPTER XIII. How, When and Where to Sow Seeds 103 CHAPTER XIV. Transplanting.. 114 CHAPTER XV. Vegetables Their Varieties and Cultivation 117 CHAPTER XVI. When to Sow and Plant in the Southern States 811 CHAPTER XVII. Packing Vegetables for Shipping 316 CHAPTER XVIII. Preservation of Vegetables in Winter 317 CHAPTER XIX. Insects 319 CHAPTER XX. Culture of Small Fruits 325 CHAPTER XXI. Implements 344 Monthly Calendar 359 ILLUSTRATIONS. Asparagus Beetle . . 128 Asparagus, Manner of Planting .123 Drains, Board 31 Flat Stone 30 Rubble 30 Tile, Horseshoe 29 Forcing-pits, Heated by Flue. 71 Forcing-pits, Heated by Water Pipes 64 Greenhouse Heated by Flue - . 86 End Section 87 Greenhouse for Forcing Vege- tables..-- --. 73 Cross Section 74 Glazing, Improved Method of 75 IMPLEMENTS. Asparagus Buncher 355 Asparagus Knife 355 Dibber- 356 Drill, Wheel-hoe, Cultivator and Plow Combined 354 Fork, Digging 346 Garden Line Reel 355 Harrow, Acme 348 Disc. 849 Garden 346 Triangular A djustable 347 Hoe and Cultivator, Horse, Planet Jr . 357 Double- wheel 354 Prong 350 Scuffle 350 Horseradish Grater 356 Marker, Double 352 Rapp's Adjustable 352 Plow, Miner's Subsoil - - 345 Roland Chilled - 344 Skeleton 347 Slip Share for 345 V Rake, Steel 350 Roller, Garden.... 351 Spade, Ames First Quality 346 Pump, Force, Douglas 66 Straw-mat, Making a 61 SMALL FRUITS. Blackberry, Kittatinny 335 Wilson _ 335 Gooseberry, Houghton's Seed- ling 340 Grape, Niagara 341 Raspberry, Cuthbert 337 Gregg _ 338 Hansell 338 Strawberry, Jersey Red 331 Sharpless 332 The Jewel 333 The Henderson 329 VEGETABLES, VARIETIES OF : Artichoke, Green Globe 129 Jerusalem 130 Bean, Earliest Red Valentine . 133 Golden Wax 135 Lima, Jersey Extra Early. 137 Beet, Egyptian Turnip 140 Beet ..-- 140 Eclipse 140 Long Smooth Blood 141 Borecole, German Greens 143 Brussels Sprouts 146 Cabbage, American Drumhead Savoy 167 Early Jersey Wakefield- . . 162 Henderson's Early Sum- mer . 164 Late Flat Dutch 166 Carrot, Danver's 172 Long Red Stump-rooted-. 172 Orange Improved . . . 172 VI ILLUSTRATIONS. Cauliflower,Hen1 As a proof of the value of such improvements which have led to simplifying our operations, I Avill state the fact that though my area of greenhouse surface is now more than double that which it was in 1870, and the land used in our florist's business is one-tl;ird more, the number of hands employed is less now than in 1870, and yet, at the same time, the quality of our stock is vastly better now than then. Whether it is the higher price of labor in this country that forces us into labor-saving expedients, or the inter- change of opinions from the greater number of nation- alities centering here, that gives us broader views of cul- ture, I am not prepared to state ; but that America is now selling nearly all the products of the greenhouse, garden, nursery and farm lower than is done in Europe, admits of no question ; and if my homely suggestions in this matter of firming the soil around newly planted seeds or plants will in any degree assist us in still holding to the front, I shall be gratified. In the summer of 1886 I had a visit from one of the market gardeners of Norfolk, Va., who told me that he annually grows fifty acres of Spinach, but that often by dry weather in autumn, only a partial crop was obtained, owing to the failure of the seed to germinate. I asked him if he trod in the seed with the feet ; he said no, that it would be quite a big job to tread in rows at one foot apart on an area of fift} r acres. A little calculation showed that it could be done for less than $50, and when it is known 'that a good crop of Spinach grown in Nor- folk will sell in the markets of New York for at least $300 an acre, it will readily be seen that it would hardly be worth while to withhold $1 per acre extra labor, if it would, as it undoubtedly would in many cases, secure a crop. Seedsmen have more complaint of Spinach seed failing to germinate than perhaps anything else, as it has usually to be sown in hot, dry weather, but failure would G'ARD^IXG FOR PROFIT. rarely occur if after sowing the seed the soil was carefully pressed down with the feet. It was rather an amusing incident that first brought to the attention or a truck farmer of Charleston, S. C., the importance of firming the soil. It seems that a gen- tleman of color, having the constitutional weakness for chickens peculiar to some of his race, got into a hen roost and helped himself bountifully. In evading the highroad, he struck a bee-line through a newly-sown Turnip field, where he left tracks that led to his detec- tion. But these tracks did more. They showed to Squire Buncombe, whose chickens had suffered, that wherever the foot of the colored citizen had fallen, there he had a " stand" of Turnips and nowhere else (for they had been loosely sown and the weather was dry). The lesson shot home and has been worth tens of thousgnds of dollars to the farmers of South Carolina, who, it seems, were never before sufficiently alive to the impor- tance of firming the soil until the unfortunate negro showed them the way. The world has often raised mon- uments to men who have done far less to benefit their fellows than this poor negro unconsciously did for the farmers of North Carolina. HOW, WH-EX AND WHERE TO SOW SEEDS. 103 CHAPTER XIII. HOW, WHEN AND WHERE TO SOW SEEDS. As seed sowing is the starting point of cropping, a thorough, knowledge of the conditions necessary for the germination of the different varieties will go far towards putting the tyro in gardening well on the way to success. The very general want of knowledge in this matter is too often the cause of much undeserved censure upon the seedsman, for in nine cases out of ten the failure is not with the seeds, but results from the time or manner of sowing. When the owner of a garden sends his order for seeds to the seedsman, it is generally a complete list of all he wants for the season. They are received, and the interesting operation of sowing is begun : first in a hot bed, if he has one, often as early as the first week in February (which in the latitude of New York is a month too soon), and in go indiscriminately, at the same date and under the same sash, his seeds of Cabbage, Cauli- flower, Lettuce, and Egg Plant, Peppers and Tomatoes. Yet even in the waning heat of this early hot-bed, where a thermometer would possibly not indicate more than fifty degrees, he finds in a week or so his Cabbage, Let- tuce, and Cauliflower "coming through" nicely, but as yet no Egg Plants, Peppers, or Tomatoes. He impatiently waits another week, makes an examination, and discovers that instead of his Tomatoes and Egg Plants beginning to vegetate, they are commencing to rot. It is now plain to him that he has been cheated ; he has been sold old seed, and if he does nothing worse, he forever after looks upon the seedsman he has patronized as a venal wretch, destitute of principle and honesty. But he must have 104 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. Tomatoes, Peppers, and Egg Plants, and lie buys again, but this time from another seedsman, warranted honest. He renews his hot-bed it is now a month later, and a bright .March sun, with milder nights, give him the proper temperature in his hot-bed (seventy or eighty de- grees) and his eyes are at last gladdened by the sprout- ing of the troublesome seed. April comes with warm sunshine, inviting him to begin to "make garden" out- side. He has yet the balance of the original lot of seeds that he bought in February. But as he is still entirely befogged about the cause of his failure in the first hot- bed, he begins his open ground operations with little confidence in his seeds, but as he has got them, they may as well be tried. And again he sows, on the same day, his Peas and Lima Beans, Radishes and Pumpkins, Onions and Sweet Corn. Hardy and tender get the same treat- ment. The result must of necessity be the same as it was in the hot-bed ; the hardy seeds duly vegetate, while the tender are of course rotted. This time he is not sur- prised, for he is already convinced that seedsman No. 1 is a rascal, and only wonders how any of his seeds grew at all, so he again orders from seedsman No. 2 for the articles that have failed. Here circumstances continue to favor the latter, for by this time the season has ad- vanced in its temperature, and the seeds duly vegetate. Every experienced farmer knows that in this latitude he can sow Oats or Wheat in March or April, but if he sows his Corn or Pumpkins at the same time they will perish ; this he knows, but he may not know that what is true of the crops of the farm, is equally true of the garden. Hence the importance of a knowledge of the season when to sow vegetable seeds or set out plants. A most important case in point occurs just as I write (May loth, 1886). A would-be farmer to whom we sold fifty bushels of Sweet Corn complains that not a seed of the corn which he had planted has grown. He had HOW, WHEN AND WHERE TO SOW SEEDS. 105 sowed it about May 1st, in Northern Indiana, and three weeks too earl} 7 for that section ; what made matters even worse, we have had a cold, wet May ; the average temperature at night for the fortnight would probably not exceed forty-five degrees. Under such circumstances the seed corn could no more have germinated than if it had been thrown into the fire. That the seed was good was certain beyond question, as our trials showed that ninety per cent. grew. A decision was not long ago rendered in one of the Philadelphia courts against the claim for damages made by a market gardener, who brought suit against a well-- known seedsman of that city for having sold him seed of Early York Cabbage that had "run to seed." The ventilation of such a matter is exceedingly in- structive to those engaged in gardening operations, as was shown by the facts elicited on the trial, the gist of which was, that the prosecutor had sown the Cabbage seed on the 5th of September instead of the 15th, and that error, combined with an unusually mild and grow- ing fall, practically lengthened the season, so that the Cabbage plants became "annuals" running to seed within the year of sowing rather than forming heads and acting as " biennials," as was expected of them. Now, just here an excellent lesson conies in with another vegetable. Many of our so-called scientific gardeners are English, Scotch, Irish, or Germans ; they come here, most of them, with a thorough contempt for our rougher style of doing things (a practical style born of our neces- sities in the higher cost of labor) ; and it is next to im- possible to convince one in a dozen of them that there is anything in horticultural matters here that they need to be informed of. Accordingly, if he wishes to raise Celery, he starts his seed in a hot-bed in February, just as he would have done in England, and is astonished to find in July that instead of forming a thick and solid 106 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. stalk, as it would have done there, it spindles and runs to seed. If his knowledge of the art had been based on common-sense, instead of the blind routine practice ac- quired in a colder climate, he would have known that our season from April 1st to July 1st would sum up nearly the same mean of temperature here as it would there, from February 1st to July 1st ; and hence it was not only unnecessary here, but dangerous to the welfare of the crop, to sow such biennial plants as Celery in any other place than in the open ground, and that not before April. It was just such an error that the market gar- dener made who sued the seedsman above alluded to. He had been following, likely, the English or German method, and paid the penalty not only of losing his crop, but losing his law-suit, by not adapting his practice to our conditions of temperature. As the matter of sowing the seeds of Cabbage, Cauliflower and Lettuce to make plants to winter over in cold-frames, is one in which there is a wide-spread interest, I may state that the time of soAving in fall, in a country having such an area and difference of latitude as ours, is somewhat difficult to fix upon ; but taking the latitude of New York as a basis, the safest time we have found to sow is about the 15th of September. Of late years we have even sown some kinds as late as September 30th, with excellent success, in warm, well-sheltered positions, in a rich, well-pre- pared soil. Each kind of seed has certain limits of temperature, below or above which it cannot well germinate. Below the minimum heat it remains dormant ; above its maxi- mum limit, its vitality is destroyed ; between these two points is found the temperature most favorable to rapid germination. Practically it suffices to divide our garden seeds into two classes : natives of temperate and natives of subtropical countries. The temperature best fitted for the germination of HOW, WHEN" AND WHERE TO SOW SEEDS. 107 seeds of the leading kinds, will be best understood by the tabular form given belov; : Vegetable seeds that may be sown, ] Vegetable seeds that may be sown in this latitude, from tJte middle of March to the end of April. Ther- mometer in the shade averaging 45 in the open ground, in this latitude, from tlie middle of May to the mid- dle of June. Thermometer in the i shade averaging 60 degrees. Beet. Lettuce. Beans, Bash. Melon, Musk. Carrot. Onions. Cress. Parsnip. Beans, Cranberry. Melon, Water. Beans, Lima. Nasturtium. Celery. Parsley. Beans, Pols. Okra. Cabbage. Peas. Cauliflower. Eadish. Endive. Turnip. Beans, Scarlet Pumpkin. Runner. Squash. Corn, Sweet. Tomato. Kale. Spinach. Cucumber. It will be understood that these dates refer only to the latitude of New York ; farther South operations should be begun earlier ; farther North, later. So much for the time of sowing. I will now refer to suitable soil and the manner of sowing. THE CHOICE OF SOIL wherein seeds are sown, when choice can be made, is of importance, the best being a light soil, composed of leaf mold, sand, and loam ; the best substitute for leaf mold being well-decayed stable manure, or, better yet, decayed refuse hops from the breweries in short, anything of this nature that will tend to lighten the soil, the point to be avoided being a weight of soil, either from the nature or quantity of it. The nature of the soil is not of so much importance for the germinating of large vigorous seeds, as Peas, Beets, Beans, Corn, etc.; but with the delicate, slow sprouting sorts, as Celery, Parsnip, Egg Plant, or Peppers, it is of much importance. Seeds of nearly every garden vege- table should be sown in rows ; the distance apart ac- cording to the variety, and the depth proportioned to the size of the seed. No better information can be given in this matter than the old rule of covering the seed with 108 GARDEXIXG FOR PROFIT. about twice or thrice its thickness of soil, but this should always be followed up by having the soil pressed closely down. In our market gardens here we invariably tread or have t*he ground rolled ; or in frames or hot-beds, where the roller cannot be used, we pat the soil down evenly with a spade after sowing. This may not be of so much con- sequence in early spring, when the atmosphere is moist, but as the season advances, it is of great importance. Another advantage in rolling after seed sowing is, that it leaves the surface smooth and level, thereby greatly lessening the labor of hoeing. Instead of adopting the questionable practice of soaking seeds, preparatory to sowing in dry, hot weather, we prefer first, if very dry, to thoroughly saturate the bed with water, and after it has dried enough, so that it can be raked without clog- ging, sow the seed. It is much better to do this than to water the soil after the seed has been sown, as it has a tendency in most soils to cause the surface to bake. Although directions for sowing in hot-beds have been already fully given in the Chapter on " Formation and Management of Hot-beds," and also under the head of "Spring-raising of Cabbage, Cauliflower and Lettuce," yet at the risk of some repetition I again refer to it here. SOWING IN HOT-BEDS. After the hot-bed has been formed say the first week in March let soil of the kind recommended be placed on it six inches deep, into which plunge a thermometer three or four inches, and when the temperature recedes to seventy-five or eighty degrees, you may then sow, giving air in mild weather as soon as the seeds begin to vegetate, covering up warmly at night with straw mats. But many that may read this never saw a hot-bed, and are perhaps never likely to have one ; to such I would say that there is an excellent substitute on hand in most dwellings, in the kitchen or basement win- dows, facing South or East, inside of which is a temper- ature usually not far from that required for the vegeta- HOW, WHEN AND WHERE TO SOW SEEDS. 109 tion of seeds, and where plants from seeds of the early vegetables, or tender plants for the flower border, may be raised nearly as well, and with far less attention, than in a hot-bed. Instead of hot-beds, we use our green- houses for the purpose, using shallow boxes in which we sow the seed ; these are made from the common soap box, cut into three pieces, the top and bottom forming two, and the middle piece, bottomed, making the third ; these form cheap, convenient boxes. Fill these nearly full with the soil recommended, and, after sowing, press nicely down level and make the surface soil moderately firm ; keep moist in a temperature in the window of from sixty to seventy degrees, and your little trouble will soon be rewarded. In this way seeds' should be sown thickly, and after they have mado the first rough leaf, should be again planted out into the same kind of box, from one to three inches apart, according to the kind, and placed in the window to receive similar treatment as the seeds ; but as the season advances, in mild days the boxes should be set out of doors, care being taken that they are brought in before night, and that the soil in the boxes is never allowed to get dry. I know what is usually the first thing the novice in gardening does if he gets any choice seed or favorite cut- ting ; ho has somehow got the belief that there is some hidden virtue in a flower pot, and he accordingly sows his seed or plants his cutting in a pot, but in nine cases out of ten they are destroyed, or partially so, by the con- tinued drying of the soil in the porous flower pot. If early in the season, let delicate seeds be sown in the kitchen or sitting-room window, in the boxes as recom- mended, or if late, in the open border ; but seeds should never be sown in pots, as even in experienced hands they are much more troublesome and uncertain than boxes. ROTATION OF CHOPS. Cultivators of the most limited 110 GARDE^I^G FOR PROFIT. experience soon discover that the same kind of crop can- not be grown on the same ground for many years in suc- cession without deterioration. A great many theories have been advanced assigning causes for this, but they are as yet far from satisfactory, and as this is not a book of theory but of practice, I will not further allude to them. The following general rules will be found useful as a guide : 1st. Plants of the same family should not be planted to succeed each other. 2d. Plants which occupy the ground for a number of years, such as Khubarb and Asparagus, should be suc- ceeded by annual plants. 3d. Crops grown for heads, such as Cauliflower, Cab- bage, etc., should be succeeded by crops grown for their bulbs or roots. It is hardly practicable to vary crops according to any set rule, the demand in different localities for certain articles being greater than in others. Generally variety enough is demanded to allow of sufficient rotation. Our system of heavy manuring, deep culture, and taking two crops from the ground each season, seems to do away in a great measure with the necessity for systematic rota- tion, which would often be found to be very inconvenient. The crops of all others that we find most benefited by change are the Cabbage tribe, together with the allied Turnip, Eadish, etc., while, on the other hand, we have grown Onions successively on the same ground for ten years the last crop just as good as the first ; but, as a rule of safety, vary whenever you can. The best of all rotation for crops is to " rest " the hind whenever practicable from its continued manuring and cultivating, by sowing down to grass for one, two or three years ; this gives a renewed vigor and vitality that nothing else will impart. The farmers and market gar- deners of Long Island, who grow truck to supply the HOW, WHEN" AND WHERE TO SOW SEEDS. Ill great market of New York, are now excelling our Hud- son County, New Jersey, market gardeners, whose limited areas and high-priced lands do not permit them to use this system of "resting ".their lands by a rotation of grass or clover. I have been so much impressed with the value of this plan, that, as soon as our cold frames have been emptied of Cabbage and Lettuce plants in May, the ground is sown at once with Clover, Millet or Oats it makes little difference which ; this crop is cut off twice or thrice and by September it forms a good sod, which is turned down. It is rotted in thirty days and the land is in the very best possible friable condition for the reception of the cold frame Cabbage, Cauliflower or Lettuce plants, which we begin to plant about the middle of October. Even when only a few weeks can be spared, we fincl it pays to sow the land with some green crop to be plowed in, rather than it should remain bare. QUANTITY or SEEDS PER ACRE. The quantities given below are somewhat higher in some kinds than the usual estimates, our experience showing us that in weak vege- tating seeds, such as Parsnips, Carrots, etc., it requires numbers, particularly on stiff soils, to force through plants enough to form a crop. More seed is required when sown during the dry, hot months of summer than if sown in the cooler and moist seasons of spring and fall, hence quantities are regulated accordingly: QUANTITY OF SEED REQUIRED TO SOW AN ACBE. Asparagus 4 to 5 pounds. Beans, Dwarf ...in drills 2 bushels. Beans, Pole- in hills - 10 to 12 quarts. Beet in drills 5 to 6 pounds. Cabbage in beds to transplant '/a pound. Carrot .-in drills 3 to 4 pounds. Com in hills 8 to 10 quarts. Com (for soiling) 3 bushels. Cucumber in hills - 2 to 3 pounds. Cress, Water in drills 2 to 3 pounds. 112 GARDENING IOR PROFIT. Cress, Upland in drills 2 to 3 pounds. Kale, or Sprouts 3 to 4 pounds. Mustard broadcast Va bushel. Melon (Musk) in hills. 2 to 3 pounds. Melon (Water) - -in hills 4 to 5 pounds. Onion in drills 5 to 6 pounds. Onion, (for sets) -in drills 30 pounds. Onion, (sets) in drills - - 6 to 12 bushels. Parsnip in drills 4 to 6 pounds. Peas - - in drills 2 bushels. Peas broadcast 3 bush els. Potato, (cut tubers) 10 to 12 bushels. Pumpkin -in hills 4 to 6 pounds. Radish in drills - - 8 to 10 pounds. Sage in drills 8 to 10 pounds. Salsify -in drills -8 to 10 pounds. Spinach .'. in drills. 10 to 12 pounds. Squash, (bush varieties) ... in hills 4 to 6 pounds. Squash, (running varieties) in hills . . . . . . 3 to 4 pounds. Tomato to transplant 1 U pound. Turnip in drills-. -- 1 to 2 pounds. Turnip - broadcast 3 to 4 pounds. Barley .broadcast 2 to 3 bushels. Broom Corn in hills. 8 to 10 quarts. Clover (Red) alone ._ 15 to 20 pounds. Clover (White) alone 12 to 15 pounds. Clover (Alsike) alone 8 to 10 pounds. Clover (Lucern) alone 20 pounds. Grass (Mixed Lawn)... 4 to 5 bushels. Oats . -broadcast 2 to 3 bushels. Eye . broadcast IVa to 2 bushels. Vetches -broadcast 2 to 3 bushels. Wheat broadcast l : /2 to 2 bushels. Timothy, alone - - Va bushel. Orchard Grass, mixture --4 to 5 bushels. Millet Va to 1 bushel. MIXTURE FO3 SEEDING- MOWING LANDS. Clover, ) together ( 1Q pounds Clover. Timothy, [ "for < - - Va bushel Timothy. Red-Top. \ one acre ( 1 bushel Red-Top. When drills are referred to, the seed should be sown with a seed drill. HOW, WHEX AND WHERE TO SOW SEEDS. 113 QUANTITY OF SEEDS REQUIRED FOR A GIVEN NUMBER OF PLANTS, NUM- BER OF HILLS, OR LENGTH OF DRILL. Asparagus, 1 oz 60ft. of drill. Beet, 1 oz 50 ft. of drill. Beans, Dwarf, 1 qt. 100 ft. of drill. Beans, Pole, 1 qt 150 hills. Carrot, 1 oz 150ft. of drill. Cucumber, 1 oz . . _ _ . .50 hills. Corn, 1 qt 200 hills. Dandelion, 1 oz 200 ft. of drill. Endive, 1 oz 150 ft. of drill. Leek, 1 oz 100 ft. of drill. Melon, Water, 1 oz 30 hills. Melon, Musk, 1 oz 60 hills. Okra, loz 40ft. of drill. Onion, 1 oz 100 ft. of drill. Onion, Sets, 1 qt.... 40 ft. of drill. Parsley, 1 oz 150 ft. of drill. Parsnip, 1 oz 200 ft. of drill. Peas, 1 qt 100 ft. of drill. Pumpkin, 1 oz 40 hills. Radish, 1 oz 100 ft. of drill. Salsify, 1 oz. .70 ft. of drill. Spinach, 1 oz 100 ft. of drill. Squash, Early, 1 oz 50 hiils. Squash, Marrow, 1 oz 16 hills. Turnip, 1 oz 150 ft. of driU. Asparagus, 1 oz 500 plants. Cabbage, 1 oz 2,000 plants. Cauliflower, 1 oz 2,000 plants. Celery, 1 oz .3,000 plants. Egg Plant, 1 oz 1,000 plants. Lettuce, 1 oz 3,000 plants. Pepper, 1 oz 1,000 plants. Rhubarb, 1 oz 500 plants. Tomato, 1 oz 1,500 plants. Thyme, 1 oz 3,000 plants. Sage, 1 oz 1,000 plants. THE NUMBER OF PLANTS, T3EES, ETC., REQUIRED TO SET AN ACRE. Distance. Number. 1ft. by 1ft 43,560 l'/ 9 ft. by !'/ ft 19,360 2ft. by 2 ft ....10,890 2/Q ft. by 2'/ 2 ft 6,970 3ft. by 1ft 14,520 3ft. by 2 ft 7,260 3ft. by3ft 4,840 4ft. by 4 ft 2,722 5ft. by 5 ft:... 1,742 Distance. Number. Oft. by 6 ft .1,200 9ft. by 9ft.. 537 12ft. by 12ft 302 15ft. by 15 ft.. 194 18ft. by 18ft... 134 20ft. by 20 ft. 103 25ft. by 25ft 70 30ft. by 30ft 40 40ft. by 40 ft ..27 114 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. CHAPTER XIV. TRANSPLANTING. Transplanting is an operation of great importance ; the condition of the plant, the state of the soil, and of the atmosphere, have much to do with its success, independ- ently of the simple mechanical operation. It is not very easy to instruct the uninitiated as to what the proper condition of the plant should be ; experience in this being, as in everything else, the best teacher. Attention to keeping the seed-bed clear of weeds, the "topping" of plants when they get too tall, and careful digging up of them so as to preserve the root fibres, will all greatly assist. We cannot always get the soil in the proper con- dition of moisture to receive plants at the time trans- planting should be performed, but to make up for the want of moisture, planting should be delayed always until late in the afternoon, unless in cloudy weather. It is also of great importance that the ground be freshly plowed ; the moist soil thus brought to the surface will induce the formation of root fibres in one night in warm weather, after which the plants are comparatively safe ; but if they be allowed to wilt before the new roots begin to be emitted, and continued dry weather ensues, then nothing will save them but having recourse to watering, which, however, should only be done in case of dire necessity. In planting, such plants as Cabbage, Lettuce and Celery, each man is provided with a boy, who car- ries the plants in a basket, and whose duty is to drop the plant on the line at the proper distance before the planter. In planting, a hole is made by the dibber about the depth of the root ; the plant being inserted, the soil is then pressed close to the root ; the hole thus made by the displacement of the soil is again filled up by one stroke of the dibber. In dry weather we still further TRANSPLANTING. 1 ] 5 firm the plant by each planter returning on his row and treading the soil around plants firmly with the feet. I am thus particular in describing a simple matter, know- ing well that millions of plants are annually lost by inattention to this firming of the soil. The same rule is applicable to transplanting of all kinds, trees, shrubs, or vegetables. Instead of "puddling" the roots in mud, we prefer to keep the plants dripping wet during the whole time of planting, so that each plant, as it is put in the soil, puddles itself by the particles of soil adhering to the wet root. Besides, the leaves of the plant, being- wet, will for some time resist the action of the dry air. PLANTING OF VEGETABLE PLANTS. A year or two ago, about the middle of .April, the snow, after its long acquaintance with us during the past winter, intruded itself again in the spring and covered our newly-planted gardens to the depth of several inches. Veteran tillers of the soil could smile at this assault, knowing it to be harmless. But correspondents, still young in the busi- ness, wrote to me fearing their planted crops were ruined. A snow, after planting in spring, I have never known to injure plants of any kind, unless, indeed, it was heavy enough to break. them. The fear of snow, and of the slight late frosts, often prevents the setting of such plants as Cabbage, Lettuce, and even Asparagus, among vegeta- bles, and of Strawberries and other small fruits, until the season is so far advanced that hot weather comes on, starting the tops before the foots have had time to get a foothold. There is rarely danger (when the ground is sufficiently dry to work, and it never should be worked until it is so), that such hardy or half-hardy plants as we plant in spring will be injured by any frost that may come after they are put out. This opening up for spring work usually begins here by the end of March, and I have never yet seen plants injured by frost after that time. 116 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. To give an idea what amount of colel Cabbage and Lettuce plants will stand without injury, I will relate an experience I had in my early days of market gardening. A particularly mild spell in the latter part of February had led us to believe that spring had come. Out went the teams, and the ground was manured, plowed, and planted with Cabbage and Lettuce to the extent of two acres, which was all finished up by the 26th of February. It was my second year in the business. I was yet an in- experienced hand, and my neighbors predicted that my venture was a foolhardy one, and would result in total loss, no one having ever before planted such crops in this section at such an early season. But fortune favored me ; the weather continued mild long enough to allow the plants to "strike root," and though the thermometer afterward marked as low as fifteen degrees above zero, and the ground was frozen for full ten days, so that it could not be again dug or plowed, yet the wild venture proved a success, and I had the satisfaction of having the first Cabbages from that February planting that were sold in market. I never after had an opportunity of planting so early, and would not do so if I had, for it was simply favorable conditions that saved the crop. If the cold snap had set in immediately after planting, there is but little doubt the plants would have suffered injury. But the experience was valuable in showing what severity of frost such plants would stand without injury. Much depends on the condition Of the plants ; if taken from the hot-bed or frame without being previously exposed, they might be in condition to be as easily injured as a Tomato plant. The past season I had the sashes taken off my entire crop of Cabbage and Lettuce plants on March 1st (they being hardened beforehand by ventilating), and never covered them again. They were twice covered up with snow, and the mercury several times marked only twenty VEGETABLES VARIETIES AND CULTIVATION. 117 degrees above zero. Yet we hardly ever before had finer plants. The sashes so taken off nearly 1,000 in number were used for our flower business, but, had we desired it, they might have been used on temporary frames, and grown a crop of Lettuce which in five weeks from date of plant- ing, March 1st, would have easily given $2 per sash. I mention these facts to give confidence to the hundreds now engaged in market gardening, who,, from dread of exposing their plants in spring, not only do them an in- jury, but lose the profit of a second use of their sashes. A third use of sashes may be had in growing Tomato, Swe&t Potato, or Egg plants, after the crop of Lettuce is sold, or forwarding an early crop of Cucumbers or Melons. (See ' Forcing Cucumbers.") CHAPTER XV. VEGETABLES, THEIR VARIETIES AND CULTIVATION. In describing the modes of cultivating the different varieties of vegetables, I shall notice at length only those of the most importance, and the most profitable for mar- ket purposes, while for those of less value as market crops, tjae directions for culture will be such as are adapted to private gardens only. A limited number of kinds will be described, and such only as our experience has shown to possess the greatest earliness and productiveness. Nothing is more perplex- ing to the beginner than to be bewildered by descriptions of perhaps twenty so-called varieties of a vegetable that in reality does not embrace four distinct kinds. For example, in early Cabbages, there are some hundred or more varieties described; yet we find, after having 118 GARDENING FOE PROFIT. experimented with some scores of kinds in onr time, there are two varieties more profitable to grow than any others viz., the Jersey Wakefield and Early Summer, which are grown in this locality to the exclusion of all others. However, some kinds are found to do better in some localities than in others hence, as in fruits, no particular variety should be claimed to be universally the best. ASPARAGUS. (Asparagus officinalis.) Asparagus being a hardy perennial plant, that may be grown on the same ground for twenty years without re- newal, special care is required in forming the beds in which it is to grow. This is done sometimes by trench- ing to the depth of two or three feet, mixing each layer of soil, as turned over, with two or three inches of well- rotted manure ; but for market purposes, on a large scale, trenching is seldom resorted to ; deep and thorough pul- verizing by the plow and subsoiler serving instead. The soil best suited for Asparagus is a deep and rather sandy loam, such as is often to be found on the borders of mead- ows or on the margins of lakes or rivers land formed by the washings of the higher grounds, and known as allu- vial. This land, when clear from under water or from overflow is by far the best suited for the growth of all kinds of vegetables and is, from the nature of the plants, particularly adapted for Asparagus or Celery. PROPAGATION. Asparagus is propagated by seed, which is sown in spring, as soon as the soil will admit of work- ing, which should be prepared by being thoroughly pul- verized and enriched with well-rotted manure. The seed is sown in rows one foot apart, and if kept carefully hoed and clear from weeds, the plants will be in fine condition to plant out the succeeding spring. Strict attention to this will save a year in time ; for if the seed-bed has been neglected, it will take two years to get the plants as large VEGETABLES ASPARAGUS. 119 as they would be in one year, if they had been properly cared for. In consequence of this very common neglect of proper cultivation of the seed-bed, it is an almost uni- versal impression that the plants must be two or three years old before planting. This is undoubtedly an error, for almost all large growers for market purposes, in the neighborhood of New York, invariably plant one-year- old plants, and count on marketing a crop the third spring from the time of sowing. One pound of seed will produce about 3,000 plants ; and to plant an acre of As- paragus requires from 15,000 to 20,000 plants when planted close. PLANTING. The bed being prepared as previously described, planting may be done any time for six or eight weeks from the opening of spring. The plant, from its peculiar succulent roots, is less susceptible of injury from late planting than most other vegetables, although at the same time delay should not occur, unless unavoid- able, as the sooner it is planted after the ground is in working order, the better will be the result. When there is plenty of ground and the crop is to be extensively grown, perhaps the best mode of planting is in rows three feet apart, the plants nine inches apart in the rows. For private use, or for marketing on a small scale, beds should be formed five feet wide, with three rows planted in each ; one in the middle and one oh each side, a foot from the edge ; the distance of the plants in the rows, nine inches ; the alleys between the beds should be two feet wide. In planting, a line is set and a cut made a little slanting to the depth of six or eight inches, accord- ing to the size of the plants. The plants are then laid against the side of the trench, at the distance already named (nine inches), care being taken to properly spread the roots. The crown or top of the plant should be cov- ered about three inches. In a week or so after planting, the beds should be touched over lightly with a sharp steel 120 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. rake, which will destroy the germinating weeds. The raking had better be continued at intervals of a week or so, until the plants start to grow, when the hoe or hand- cultivator may be applied between the rows and alleys ; the weeds that come up close to the plant must of neces- sity be pulled out by the hand. In the first edi tion of this work I gave it as my belief that we had only one .variety of Asparagus, and that all the so-called " Giant " and "Mammoth" varieties were merely the results of superior soil or cultivation, which on being propagated by seeds or otherwise, and placed in ordinary conditions of culture, would fall back to their original or normal condition ; in short, that the species had never "broke," as we technically term it. This belief necessarily made me skeptical to the claims of the " Colossal " when that variety was first introduced, and I invariably replied to all inquirers that past ex- perience in this matter led me to believe that it was no different from the ordinary sort. I was finally invited to pay a visit to the farm- of Abra- ham Van Siclen, of Jamaica, Long Island, and there to inspect an acre of the Oyster Bay Asparagus (the ordinary kind), and an acre of his " Colossal," which Mr. Van Siclen had planted in the spring of 1868, each then one year old from seed. A thorough inspection of the roots of each lot proved that they were of the same age when planted. The soil was next examined, and found to be as near the same as it could well be, yet these two beds of Asparagus showed a difference that left me no longer a shadow of a doubt of their being entirely distinct varieties. In the old variety we found no shoot thicker than one inch in diameter and averaging twenty shoots to a hill, while in the "Colossal" many shoots were found an inch and a half in diameter, and averaging thirty-five shoots to a hill an enormous growth, when it is remembered the plant was only three years from the seed. VEGETABLES ASPARAGUS. 121 Mr. Van Siclen is well known as one of our best Long Island market gardeners, who has made the growing of Asparagus a specialty for twenty years, and who has prob- ably in that time sold more Asparagus in the markets of New York than any other man. He was exceedingly enthusiastic in praise of this variety, believing that at a low estimate it would yield a profit of at least one-third greater than the ordinary sort, under the same condi- tions, besides coming to maturity two years sooner. Mr. Van Siclen's method of groAving Asparagus is sim- ple, and in some respects new to me. To begin, he sows his seeds in his rich sandy loam in April, in rows one foot apart and two inches in depth, dropping the seeds so that they may be distributed evenly about half an inch apart ; the plants are cultivated by hoeing between the rows and keeping them clear of weeds by hand pick- ing. In the spring following he sets his plants, now one year old, which are in his experience preferable to those two years old. His mode of planting is somewhat differ- ent from the usual practice, but for having a lasting Asparagus bed one that will be as good at the end of twenty years as it is at eight it is probably the best. It differs in setting the roots much wider apart than usual ; his stand, six feet between the rows and four feet between the plants, making less than two thousand plants to an acre. In preparing the land to receive the plants, he merely plows to the deptn of a foot or so with the ordinary plow ; his soft, sandy subsoil rendering the use of the subsoil plow unnecessary, but in soils less favored the use of the subsoil plow would be of decided advantage. In preparing to plant he turns out a furrow with a double mold-board plow, so that at its deepest part it is nearly twelve inches deep ; a good shovelful of thoroughly rotted manure is then placed in the furrow, at distances of four feet, so spread that it will make a layer of three inches or so ; an inch or two of soil is then VZ GARDENING FOE PROFIT. thrown on the top of the manure, and the Asparagus planted as shown in the engraving, figure 14, and with its crown six or seven inches below the surface level. The plant is now only lightly covered up with the soil, say two or three inches, until it starts to grow, when the furrows are thrown in by the plow so that the whole surface is leveled, which places the crown of the Aspa- ragus some six or seven inches under the surface. This would be, perhaps, four inches too deep in heavy soils, but in light, soft soils it answers well. The first and second seasons after planting no Asparagus is cut for . 14. MANNER OF PLANTING ASPARAGUS. market, as it weakens the roots, but in the third year a partial crop is taken, although the beds are not considered to be at their best until the sixth or seventh year. Their productiveness may be continued for twenty years by this wide system of planting, recourse being had to manuring freely annually, by digging or plowing it in around the roots before the crop has started to grow, or after it is cut. GROWING ASPARAGUS FROM SEED, without trans- planting, is a method now finding many advocates. It is not only a much cheaper method, but in my opin- ion it is the best method if the operator can have patience to wait a year longer for a crop. The plan is very sim- ple, and can be done by any one having even a slight knowledge of farming or gardening work. Prepare the land by manuring, deep plowing and harrowing, mak- ing it as level and smooth as possible for the reception of the seed. Strike out lines three feet apart and about VEGETABLES ASPARAGUS. 123 two to three inches deep, in which sow the seed by hand or seed drill, as is most convenient, using from five to seven pounds of seed (which costs fifty cents per pound), to each acre. After sowing the seed and before covering tread down the seed in the rows evenly with the feet (see " Use of the Feet in Sowing and Planting") ; then draw the back of a rake lengthwise over the rows, after which roll the whole surface. As soon as the land is dry and fit to work in Spring, the young plants of Aspara- gus will start through the ground sufficiently to define the rows in two or three weeks. At once begin to cultivate with hand or horse cultivator, and stir the ground so as to destroy the embryo weeds, breaking the soil in the rows between the plants with the fingers or hand weeder for the same purpose. This must be repeated at inter- vals of two or three weeks during the summer, as the success of this method is entirely dependent on keeping down the weeds, which, if allowed to grow, would soon smother the Asparagus plants, which for the first season of their growth are weaker than most weeds. In two or three months after sowing, the Asparagus will have at- tained ten or twelve inches in height. It must now be thinned out so that the plants stand nine inches apart in the rows. By fall they will be from two to three feet high, strong and vigorous, if the directions for culture have been faithfully followed. When the foliage dies (but not before), cut the stems down to the ground and cover the lines for five or six inches on each side with two or three inches in depth of rough manure. As the spring again returns, renew the same process of cultiva- tion to keep down weeds the second year exactly as was done for the first, and so on to the spring of the fourth year, when a crop may be cut that will well reward all the labor that has been expended. Sometimes, if the land is particularly suitable, a crop may be had well worth marketing the third year, but as a rule, it will be 134 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. better to wait until the fourth year without cutting much, as it would tend to weaken the plants. To com- pensate for the loss of a year in time in thus growing Asparagus from seed, such crops as Cabbage, Lettuce, Onions, Beets, or Spinach all of which will be market- able before the Asparagus will have grown high enough to interfere with them can be sown or planted between the rows of Asparagus the first year of its growth with but little injury to it ; and as the ground for the Aspar- agus has been heavily manured and well prepared, such crops will, in a measure, make up for the year's loss in time, provided there is a market near enough for their sale. I had an old friend near Macon, Ga., who grew an acre of Asparagus after this plan. His crop was sold in the New York market and brought him an average of $1,000 a year for six years after it came into bearing, to my certain knowledge, my salesman having sold it for him. He died some ten years ago, and I presume the bed was neglected, or it might still be in full bearing. There is no crop so certain of sale and so easily shipped as Asparagus, from the fact that it has perhaps greater value for its weight than any other vegetable, besides, it is ready at a season when the temperature is low, so that whether shipped from the extreme Southern States to our large cities in the Middle States, or reshipped to still further North, there is never danger from injury in transit. The reason of its being profitable is obvious. The cultivator has to wait three or four years for a crop. The majority of gardeners either cannot or will not wait, and hence it becomes profitable to the few who cultivate it. The variety usually grown is the Colossal, but Mr. John Nix, a well-known commission dealer of New York City, and who is also one of the largest truckers in South Carolina, claims that the new variety of Asparagus, " The Palmetto," is one which excels all other varieties grown at the South, in earliness, yield, quality and even- VEGETABLES ASPARAGUS. 125 ness of growth. Ifc has not yet been extensively tried at the North, but we have every reason to think that it will do equally well here. THE APPLICATION OF SALT to Asparagus as a top- dressing is claimed to be of benefit in inland districts out of the range of a saline atmosphere, but is of little or no benefit in the vicinity of salt water. When used it should be applied in spring only, at the rate of half a pound per square yard, strewed on the surface ; the rains will dissolve it and wash it down to the roots. Besides its beneficial effects upon the plant, it is to some extent destructive to the wire worm and other insects that are often troublesome to the Asparagus. We have found Asparagus beds very profitably bene- fited by the application of superphosphate of lime or pure bone dust as a spring top-dressing, applied at the rate of 500 pounds per acre, sown on the beds and hoed in. Experiments with this on alternate rows showed a dif- ference of nearly one foot in height of the stalk in favor of the rows to which the superphosphate had been ap- plied over those which had none ; and a difference of nearly double the product when the crop was cut in the succeeding spring. The fall treatment of the Asparagus beds varies with the locality ; in cold regions, where, if left unprotected, the frost would penetrate below the .roots, a covering of three or four inches of rough manure or leaves is neces- sary. Although an entirely hardy plant, it will start earlier and with greater vigor in spring if the root has not been subjected to severe freezing. In milder sections no such precaution is necessary ; all that need be done is to clear off the stems as soon as they are withered in the fall, and clean the beds preparatory to giving a dressing of two or three inches of manure, which had better not be applied until spring. We believe the common practice oi top-dressing Asparagus beds in fall to be a very waste- 126 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. ful one, in districts where it is not necessary to provide against severe freezing, for, as the plant is then dormant, the juices of the manure are either evaporated or else washed down by rains below the roots of the plant. I remember having three small Asparagus beds under my charge many years ago, on one of which I applied in De- cember twenty-five pounds of Peruvian guano, dissolved in fifty gallons of water ; in April the same application was made to another bed, and the other was left without anything. There was no perceptible difference between that to which the liquid had been applied in December and that to which none had been given, but on that which received it in April nearly double the weight of crop was produced. Since then, all our practice, cor- roborated by direct experiment, IIRS convinced me beyond all doubt, that manures, either liquid or solid, are un- profitably employed when applied to plants in the dor- mant state. In gathering the crop caution must be used not to in- jure the plants by continued or excessive cutting ; for it must be borne in mind that to reproduce annually its crop of shoots in spring, something must be left to grow to encourage the formation of fresh roots. In our market gardens the practice is to cut off all the shoots as they are ready, until the middle of May or 1st of June, when the shoots begin to show signs of weakness ; then all is left to grow and no more cut. In its preparation for market the shoots are tied up in round bunches. The size of the bunch is governed somewhat by the abundance of the crop, and is about four to five inches in diameter and from seven to nine inches in length, in weight from two to three pounds, firmly tied at the butts and tops. The tying material is the matting known as Raffia, as that is soft, pliable, and has the necessary strength. The proper bunching of Asparagus used to be quite an art, but the "Asparagus Buncher" (see implements) has ren- VEGETABLES ASPARAGUS. 127 dered the operation so simple that any one can do it rapidly with a few minutes practice. This crop is subject to so many conditions that an average value can hardly be given ; some of our growers here yet claim that it pays an annual clear profit of $500 per acre, while others say that it does not pay them over $200 per acre. During a period of ten years, counting from the time the bed was planted, it is safe to say that, in this vicinity, the average profits per acre will be $250. It is a crop that never fails to sell, is always productive if properly treated, and having a great value for its weight a ton often being worth from $200 to $400 it is, in all respects, a valuable crop for the market gardener. In packing Asparagus for shipping it is best packed in boxes of a depth equal to the length of the bunch or perhaps an inch deeper, because in packing, Asparagus is placed on end, and some soft material, as moss, cotton, or soft paper should be placed on the top, so that should the box be turned upside down, the soft tops will not be bruised. The interstices between the bunches should also be filled in, so that the whole may be firm enough to not be injured by jarring. This is true of packing all vegetables for shipment; unless the box is packed full and firm, jarring in the handling is sure to injure them. In some localities, especially on Long Island, New York, the Asparagus Beetle (Crioceris asparagi) has in- jured the crop to such an extent as to cause whole plan- tations to be plowed under. When the beetle first ap- pears it may be controlled by picking it off and destroying it ; but if allowed to become established the task is hope- less. The engraving (figure 15) shows the insect in its different stages. The lower figure is a part of a branch, with the small black eggs attached by their ends ; these are given of the natural size, and magnified. The larva, or caterpillar, as well as the perfect beetle, is shown at the top of the engraving ; the natural size of these is in- 128 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. dicat.d by the lines drawn at the side. Whenever the eggs or the larvae appear, cut and burn the plants as long as any traces of the kisect are to be seen ; this must be done if it de- stroys every vestige of vegetation. A remedy much in use in some sec- tions is to coop up hens in the vicin- ity of Asparagus beds, and let the chickens out to pick up the larvae and insects. A certain remedy against the Asparagus beetle, it is claimed, can be made by mixing one pound of Paris green in 100 gallons of water, sprinkling over the plants twice each week on the first appearance of the insect. The varieties of Asparagus now are confined to the " Colossal " and the "New Palmetto," already described. The "Giant," formerly so much grown, is now nearly out of cultivation. Fig. 15. ASPARAGUS BEETLE. ARTICHOKE. (Cynara Scolymus.) Although a vegetable as yet rarely seen in our markets, it is extensively used in Europe, particularly in France. The portion of the plant most used is the undeveloped flower-head, or rather those portions of the flower-head called the scales of the involucre. They are sometimes boiled and used as a salad, with vinegar, oil, and salt ; but more generally in the raw stat3. Another use of the Artichoke is to blanch it, by tying the young side shoots moderately close together, as we tie Endive, filling in between with soil to exclude the air until the shoots are blanched ; this is what is known as " Artichoke Salad," or "Artichoke Chard;" it is used VEGETABLES ARTICHOKE. in this state in various forms of cookery, besides being used as a salad. It is a vegetable of easy culture, originally propagated from seeds until a stock is secured, after which it is readily increased by suckers from the root. These are planted out in April or May, in rows from three to four feet apart, and two feet between the plants, care being taken that the plants are well firmed in planting, and if the weather is dry, they must be freely watered until they start to grow. The plantation, the first season, will only give a partial crop ; but, as it is a perennial plant, after being once planted the same bed will re- main in bearing for years. The plant may be said to be entirely hardy south of Mason and Dixon's Line, but north of that it requires to be protected by cov- ering between the plants with six or eight inches of leaves or coarse manure. THE VARIETIES are the Green Globe and Common Green, differing but little, except in the form of the flower-head, the former being globular, the latter conical. It is claimed by some that the Common Green is more hardy and productive, but w r e have grown them side by side for years and never have observed any difference, except the very trifling one in the shape of the flower-head. Fig. 16. GREEN GLOBE ARTICHOKE. 130 GAEDENING FOE PEOFIT. ARTICHOKE, JERUSALEM. (Helianthus tuberosus.) This is an entirely different plant from the true Arti- choke, though it resembles it someweAvhat in flavor hence its name. It is a species of Heliantlius, or Sun- flower, and the plant has the general appearance of a small Sunflower. The edible part of the plant is its tubers. These are like the potato in appearance, but when cooked, to the taste of most people, are very inferior in flavor. Their nutritive value is said, however, to be fully equal to that of the potato. Used in the raw state it is pickled like the cucumber, or sliced and eaten with vinegar as a salad, but as a culinary vegetable it is but little grown, except for variety or novelty. Its culture is, in all respects, similar to the potato, but it is more productive, always free from disease, will grow almost in any soil or situation, and will stand the winter on light soils wherever a Parsnip crop will stand ; JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE. for these reasons it is regarded as a valuable food for cattle or pigs, who eat it freely. It is planted largely at the West as food for swine, which do their own har- vesting. There are several varieties, known as Red, Purple, Yellow and White tikinned. VEGETABLES BASIL BALM BEAKS. 131 BASIL. (Ocimum Basilicum.) An herb of a highly aromatic odor, and a strong flavor of cloves. It is used for flavoring soups, stews and sauces, and is by some used in salads. Its culture is the same as that of other sweet herbs. The seed should be sown in the open (/round and not in frames, which is the English practice, and necessary there from their colder climate. Sow in rows one foot apart ; when three or four inches high it may be transplanted in rows one foot apart and six inches between plants. If a small quantity only is required, it may be thinned out in the seed rows and left to grow where sown. There are two species cultivated, namely, the Common Sweet Basil (Ocimum Basilicum), and the Bush Basil (0. minimum). BALM. (Melissa officinalis.) Another well-known aromatic herb which has a very agreeable lemon-like odor. It is used as a tea for its soothing effect in irritations of the throat and lungs, and a century ago was used as a specific for coughs and colds. Its young shoots are sometimes used as an ingredient in salads. It is rapidly propagated by divisions of the root, which, planted in Spring at one foot apart each way, will form a solid mass by fall. Besides the common kind we have now in cultivation a beautiful variegated variety, possessing all the prop- erties of the other. BEANS. (Phaseolus vulgaris.)BusH, KIDNEY AND POLE. A leading vegetable of our market gardens, and ex- tensively cultivated in every section of the country North 132 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. and South. Although it can be grown on soils thjat are not enriched by manure, yet, like almost every other vegetable, it is more profitable when grown on highly cultivated land. It is what we term a " tender" plant ; that is, one that will be killed by the action of slight frosts, hence it is not planted until late enough in the spring to secure it from the risk. As in a country pre- senting such differences of temperature as ours, no stated date can be given at which to sow, perhaps no safer rule can be adopted for sowing all " tender " vegetables for all parts of the country than the time at which our great staple, Indian Corn, is planted. This rule will be equally intelligible to the inhabitants of Maine and to those of South Carolina, for all plant Corn, and know that our great enemy to early vegetation, " Jack Frost," will, without scruple, smite this "tender" vegetable if it be forced to grow before his icy reign is past. In this section we plant Beans for first crop when we plant Corn, from 10th to 20th May. But as the crop of Beans comes rapidly to maturity under favorable cir- cumstances, hi five or six weeks, it may be sown any time from these dates until July, August, or September, ac- cording to the temperature of the district. The culture in market gardens is simply to draw drills about three inches deep, and from eighteen inches to two feet apart, according to the richness of the soil; the poorer the soil the closer they can be planted. The seed is dropped in the drills two or three inches apart, and the soil covered in on them with the feet ; this we find to be a quicker and better method of covering in seeds of this size than by the hoe or rake. After the plants have grown an inch or two a cultivator is run between the rows, which generally is all that is necessary to be done, until they are large enough to have a little earth thrown to each side of the row by the plow, which completes their cultivation. Beans, like Tomatoes and VEGETABLES BEAN". 133 Peas,, are easy of cultivation and not particular as to soil, and are, in consequence, rarely a profitable crop in the locality in which they are grown; hence the only way in which they are made profitable is by growing South and shipping North, they being easily transported. Large quanti- ties are grown in early soils in Southern sections of the country and shipped to our large Northern cities, and meet a rapid sale at prices that must pay a large profit, if their manner of growing the crop is as simple as ours. It will be understood that this crop is almost exclusively sold in pod as snap shorts (in the green un- ripened state) by the hucksters, and rarely as a shell bean. The varieties are now very numerous, but the following, placed in what we con- sider the order of their value to the mar- ket gardener, will embrace variety enough for all practical purposes. BEAU". DWARF. Earliest Red Valentine, This variety is at least ten days earlier than the Early Red Valentine, which is one of the very best market varieties. On account of its great earliness it is largely grown by mar- ket gardeners ; but except in the charac- teristic of extreme earliness, it differs in no other way from the Early Red Valen- tine next described. (See figure 17.) TINE BEAN. 134 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. Early Red Valentine. Equally desirable for either market or family use, being early, productive, tender and of excellent flavor. The pods are round, somewhat curved, and the seeds, when ripe, salmon speckled with purplish rose. This variety is usually ready to pick in six weeks from the time of sowing. Early Mohawk. A very productive early variety and one that will stand more cold than most of the bush varieties. Both this and the preceding sort are largely grown in the Southern States for Northern markets. The pods are from five to six inches long ; seeds, when ripe, drab with purple spots. Long Yellow Six Weeks, Early, very prolific, and of excellent quality. Pods, six to eight inches long ; seeds, when ripe, yellow or dun color. Refugee or Thousand to One, A very productive medium or late variety. The young pods are tender and of fine flavor. This variety is extensively grown for pickling. Seeds, speckled purple. Gallega or Large Refugee, This is of recent intro- duction and is a larger form of the Eefagee above de- scribed. Both pods and seeds are not only much larger in size than their parent variety, but it is also a much better yielder. Seeds, w T hen ripe, purple, speckled with white. White Marrowfat, The variety so often grown for sale in the dry state. It is also valued as a string bean, but is used to a greater extent as a shelled bean, either green or dry. Seeds large, ivory white. BEAN.-WAX. Black W r ax, When ripe the pods are yellow, averag- ing: from six to nine inches in length. They are tender, VEGETABLES BEAK. 135 and the quality is of the very best. The seeds, when ripe, are glossy black. Golden Wax, A strong growing, dis- tinct variety, at least a week earlier than the Black AVax. The pods will average six inches long, are brittle and entirely stringless. As a snap bean, it perhaps excels all others in tenderness and rich- ness of flavor. Seeds, when ripe, are purple and white, (See figure 18.) Flageolet Wax, The pods of this are very large size, of ten a foot in length, exceedingly tender and succulent, and enormously productive. It is equally good as a shell bean. I consider this one of the best of the Bush Beans. BEAN. (Phaseolus hinatus, etc.) RUNNING OR POLE. These are more tender and require rather more care in culture than the Bush Beans. The soil best suited is sandy loam, which should be liberally enriched with short manure in the hills, which are formed, according to variety, from three to four feet apart, and pro- vided with a stake from eight to nine feet in height, set in the center of each. This class of beans is particularly tender, and it is perfectlv useless to plant the T , ,, ,, " ,. ! , Fi. 18. GOLDEN seeds before the weather has become set- WAX BEAN tied and warm in spring, as they are almost certain to rofc, and even should they not, the plant makes no growth, unless in uninterrupted warm weather. 136 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. In this district they should never be planted out until a week or more after the planting of Bush Beans ; if planted at the same time, 10th of May, they are almost certain to fail. From five to six seeds are planted in each hill about two inches deep. Being a vegetable requiring considera- ble expense in growing, staking, picking, etc., it brings a correspondingly high price per acre in market ; but maturing during the heat of summer, the advantage of earliness in this crop is not so manifest as in many others. The profits per acre average about $150, when sold for consumption in the locality in which it is grown. Shipped from earlier sections it, no doubt, would double the above amount. There are many varieties, but only a few of leading merit. Law White Lima, With nearly every one the seeds of this variety, either green or ripe, are considered the most tender and delicate of all the varieties of the bean, and it is therefore universally grown, both for market and family use. The ripe seeds are kidney shaped, and of a dull white color. Jersey Extra Early Lima, (See figure 19.) A new variety, said to be ten days earlier than any other sort grown in this vicinity. The pods have been in the New York market as early as July 30th, and sold at the rate of $3 per bushel (of pods). In size, appearance and qual- ity it is much the same as the Large White Lima. Dreer's Improved Lima, The distinctive features of this bean are, early maturity, large yield and extra quality. The bean itself is thick, and in shape more round than oval. Scarlet Runner, A great favorite in European gar- dens, both as an ornamental plant and a useful vegetab 1 ^. It grows to a height of nine or ten feet, producing dazzling scarlet flowers from July to October. Used both VEGETABLES BEAX. as string beans and shelled. Seeds, when ripe, are lilac, mottled with black. A distinct species, Pliaseolus mul- tiflorus. Giant Wax, Very productive, bearing pods from six Fig. 19. JERSEY EXTRA EARLY LIMA BEAN. to nine inches long, of waxy color, thick and fleshy, ten- der and of good flavor. The seeds are red when ripe. German Wax, One of the best pole varieties, produc- ing large, flat pods. Horticultural or Speckled Cranberry. One of the best of the pole sorts for use in pods. It is very produc- 138 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. tive, and of excellent quality, whether served in the green state or shelled. The ripe beans are yellowish white, spotted with pink. BEET. -(Beta vulgaris. ) This is one of the leading and most yaluable crops of our market gardens, and, next to Cabbages, is perhaps the most extensively grown as an early crop. The soil best suited is that which is rather light than otherwise, always provided that it is thoroughly enriched by ma- nure. We make little difference in the manner of work- ing or manuring the ground for any of our leading early crops. The ground must, in all cases, be thoroughly pulverized by plowing, subsoiliug and harrowing, and when stable manure can be procured, plowed in at the rate of seventy-five to one hundred tons per acre. It must be borne in mind that this large quantity of manure is used where two crops are taken off the land in one sea- son, for Celery always follows crops of Early Beets, Cab- bages, Onions, etc. If stable manure cannot be had, the next best substitutes must be used in the quantities specified in Chapter on Manures. As early in spring as the ground becomes fit to work, the Beets are usually sown in rows one foot apart, made by the " marker," about three inches deep. We prefer to sow rather thickly by hand (not less than eight pounds per acre), for the reason that late frosts often kill off a portion of the young plants ; but when sown thickly, enough is generally left to make a crop which amply repays the difference of a few pounds of seed. After sowing, the seed is pressed in by the feet (see "Use of the Feet in Sowing and Planting," page 96), and if the weather is dry, the whole surface is also rolled, which firms the soil better around the seed and also leaves the ground level, making it easier VEGETABLES BEET. 139 to be hoed. This firming of Beet seed is very impor- tant, as hundreds of acres, particularly of the Sugar Beet, grown on the farm for stock, are annually lost for want of this precaution. Beets are occasionally planted two feet apart, and the intervening row sown with Radishes.. The Radishes mature early, and are used or sold off soon enough to allow more room for the Beet crop. It makes but little difference with us in the profits of the crop which way it is done, the results being nearly the same in each case. But in places where but limited quantities of vegetables can be disposed of, perhaps the latter plan is the best. The young Beets are thinned out to six inches apart when the rows are one foot apart, but when at two feet to only four inches, as they have more space between the rows for air. The thinnings of the Beets are used like Spinach, and, when carefully handled, they will always sell for more than the cost of the labor of thinning the crop. In this neighborhood, Beets sown first week in April are begun to be marketed the first week in June and en- tirely cleared off by July 1st, when the ground is pre- pared for the second crop. It will be understood that they are, at this early date, sold in an immature state, before the root has reached complete development ; but the great point is earliness, the public being well satis- fied to pay more for it half-grown, if early, than when full-grown, if late. This crop I have always considered a very profitable one, even at the seemingly low price of seventy-five cents per 100 roots, the average wholesale price in New York markets. But 80,000 roots are grown per acre when sown at one foot apart, and although the labor of pull- ing and bunching up is greater than in some crops, yet at seventy-five cents per 100 it will give an easy profit of $250 per acre. Beets are an excellent article to ship, and the price 140 GARDE^IXG FOR PKOFIT. paid in New York for the first lots from Savannah and Norfolk, etc., is often as high as $2 per 100 roots. The foregoing all relates to the crop in the green state for an early market, but they are also extensively grown for use in fall, winter and spring. For this they are usually sown later, often in some sections as a second crop, as late as July 1st, although in the Northern States the roots hardly develop enough when sown after June. The manner of sav- ing them in winter will be found under the head of Pre- serving Vegetables inWinter. Fig. 30. EGYPTIAN TURNIP BEET. Fig. 21. ECLIPSE BEET. The really useful varieties of Beets are very limited in number, and are embraced in the following, arranged as usual, according to their merit as market sorts: Egyptian Turnip, (See figure 20.) Now a standard sort, being from ten to twelve days earlier than the old .Blood Turnip. The roots are large in size and of a rich, deep crimson color. From the smallness of the tops at least one-fourth more can be grown on the same space than of any other sort we have been in the habit of raising. Eclipse. -(See figure 21. ) A new variety that bids fail- to rival the Egyptian as an early market sort. It is just about as early as the Egyptian, but is larger and of very VEGETABLES BEET. 141 much finer quality. It makes a comparatively small top and the roots are of the globe form shown in the illus- tration. Our market gardeners in the vicinity of New York claim that it is bound to be the leading market sort. Bastian's Blood Turnip, After the , Egyptian and Eclipse varieties, this is prob- \\ ably the earliest Beet in cultivation. In shape it is very similar to the Early Blood Turnip described below. Early Blood Turnip, A well-known variety, following the Egyptian and Eclipse in earliness. It is a deep red color, and of excellent quality. Dewing's Improved Blood .Turnip, This is simply an improved variety of the Early Blood Turnip, with the roots of a deep blood-red color, and fine form and flavor. An excellent market sort. Long, Smooth Blood, (See figure 22.) A great improvement on the common Blood Beet, being less strong and freer from root- lets, besides being a week earlier. It is now grown here to the entire exclusion of the other. The market demand, however, for early crops requires twice the quantity of round to that of long beets ; for late sales of barreled roots exactly the reverse quan- tities are needed. Swiss Chard, A distinct species from the common Beet, which is grown for its roots, while the former is cultivated solely for its leaves. The midrib of the leaf is stewed as Asparagus, the other portions of the leaf being used as Spinach. The outer leaves are pulled off as in gathering Rhubarb. It is largely grown in France and Switzerland. In this coun- Fig. 23. LONG, BLOOD 142 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. try it is now cultivated to some extent in private gar- dens only. Its handsome leaves are as attractive as many of our prized flower garden "foliage plants," and no doubt it would be much valued if we could only regard it without the idea of its being only a Beet. BORECOLE OR KALE. (Brassica oleracea. Far.) A variety of this, receiving the rather indefinite term of "Sprouts," is extensively grown for the Northern markets, many acres of it being cultivated in the vicinity of New York. It is sown in the month of September in rows one foot apart, treated in every way as Spinach, and is ready for use in early spring. It is difficult to keep in some soils in winter ; those of rather a light nature being the best. When successfully wintered over, it is a very profitable crop, not unfrequently selling for $500 per acre. The variety thus grown is known in the seed stores as Dwarf German Greens. Another class of it is cultivated as we grow late Cabbage ; it is sown in the open ground in May, and planted out at distances, according to the variety, from two to three feet apart. Of all the Cabbage tribe this is the most tender and delicate, and it is sur- prising that it has never yet been wanted in quantity enough to make it a marketable vegetable, not one head being sold to one thousand of the coarse winter Cabbage. The varieties are very numerous ; those below described are all standard sorts. "Siberian Dwarf Curled Kale," "Dwcrf German Greens," or " Sprouts." (See figure 23.) The leaves are of a bluish green, resembling somewhat the foliage of the Ruta Baga Turnip. It is of delicate flavor and in every way desirable. It is the popular market variety. This is the kind grown exactly as Spinach ; it is culti- vated in immense quantities South for Northern markets. VEGETABLES BOEECOLE. 143 Very Early Dwarf. A new variety that is said to be of special excellence. The leaves are of a yellowish green color, very dwarf and finely curled. It grows very close to the ground. Dwarf Green Curled Scotch, A dwarf variety, rarely exceeding eighteen inches in height, but spreading out Fig. 23. GERMAN GREENS. under good cultivation to three feet in diameter. The leaves are beautifully curled and of a bright green. This variety is very hardy and will remain over winter in any place where the temperature does not fall below zero. It is most tender after being touched by sharp frost. This is the variety used in the famous Scotch dish of " beef and greens." Purple Borecole. Similar to the above in all respects except the color, which is a dull purple. This is the va- 144 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. riety most esteemed by the Germans. It is very hardy and is often seen in the markets of New York as late as January. BROCCOLI. (Brassica oleracea. Far.) This vegetable is so closely allied to Cauliflower that it seems absurd to have ever divided them under different heads. Still, we persist in growing them under the names of Broccoli and Cauliflower, the Broccoli being planted for fall use, Cauliflower, on the other hand, being mostly planted for summer use, although it is well known that their seasons might be reversed without any marked dif- ference in the results. Like all of the Cabbage tribe, Broccoli, to grow it in perfection, requires the soil to be in the highest possible degree of fertility. The seed should be sown, in this district, in the early part of May, which will give plants large enough to be transplanted in July. Farther south the sowing should be delayed until June or July, and the transplanting delayed accordingly until August, September, or October. There is no doubt that in parts of the country where the thermometer does not fall below twenty or twenty-five degrees above zero, Broccoli may be had in perfection from November un- til March. A necessary condition of perfect development is a moist and rather cool atmosphere ; for this reason we only get the crop in fine condition, in this district, during the cool and moist months of October and "November. Owing often, however, to heat or dryness in the months of August and September, the crop becomes an entire failure, and for this reason, for market purposes, it is rather hazardous. When a good crop is made, however, it is very profitable, rarely bringing less than $8 per 100, or about 8800 per acre ; but as the crop in this sec- tion fails two seasons out of three, it is not considered a VEGETABLES BRUSSELS SPKOUTS. 145 desirable one to plant. The plants of most of the varie- ties are set out two and a half by one and a half feet, or about 10,000 plants per acre. In this district, for market purposes, we confine our- selves to the first two varieties named below ; some others, however, are occasionally grown for family use. White Cape. Heads of medium size, close, compact, and of a creamy white color ; one of the most certain to head. Purple Cape, Nearly similar in all respects to the White Cape, except in color, which is greenish-purple. This variety is rather hardier than the preceding, but its color renders it of less value in market, White Heads of the same quality bringing $1 to $2 more per 100. This is a mere matter of fancy in the buyers, however, as, when cooked, there is but little difference in its appearance from the White, and none whatever in the flavor. Early Walcheren. This variety seems to produce its heads earlier than the preceding, but they are not usually so heavy or compact. This variety so closely resembles a Cauliflower that it is not easy to ?ay in what respect it differs from one. In England, where the Broccoli is much more grown than with us, this variety is sown every few weeks, in order to keep up a constant supply. The English catalogues enumerate some thirty or more varieties, and each year adds to the list. BRUSSELS SPROUTS. (Brassica olemcea. Far.) This vegetable has never come into general use in this country, probably owing to its being too tender to stand the winters of the Northern States. Still, by sowing in April or May, and planting out in July, it may be had 146 GARDENING FOB PEOFIT. in fine condition until December; and, in the Southern States, may be had in use from November to March. Even in England, where it is very extensively grown, it is not much raised for market, being mainly cultivated for private use. Its cultivation is very simple, and it can be grown on almost any soil. Plant about two feet apart, and cultivate as for Cabbages. Brussels Sprouts are readily distinguished from all other varieties of the Cabbage tribe by the sprouts or buds, about the size of walnuts, which grow thickly around the stem. These Fig. 24. BRUSSELS' SPKOUTS. sprouts are the parts used, and are equal in tenderness and flavor to Cauliflower or Broc- coli. CABBAGE AND CAULIFLOWER. Cabbage is much easier managed than Cauliflower, and is consequently more certain of giving a crop, even under unfavorable conditions. The first condition of success with the Cabbage crop, like that of nearly every other vegetable, is the right kind of soil. The best soil for Cabbage is a rather sandy loam, not less than ten inches deep, the subsoil under which should be sand or gravel a clayey or stiff subsoil is uncongenial to almost every crop. It may bs superfluous to say that unless the soil for Cabbage is drained artificially or natur- ally (by a sand or gravel subsoil), that success is impos- sible. This, of course, is true of nearly every crop grown. The proper pulverizing of the soil is a matter of VEGETABLES CABBAGE AKD CAULIFLOWER. 147 the utmost importance. Although many of the large market gardens in England are yet dug with the spade or digging fork, it is rare that anything else is used with us than the plow and harrow. We ourselves are so satisfied of the superiority of the plow as a pulverizer of the soil over the spade or digging fork, that we would not allow our grounds, for any purpose, to be dug, even if done for nothing, and no digging is ever done on our grounds in any spot where horses can be worked. Experience has shown us that it is always beneficial for the Cabbage crop to plow land in the fall, not only be- cause when thus thrown up in ridges it gets pulverized by the action of the frost, but also that the turning up of the soil exposes the larvae and eggs of insects also to the frost, which tends greatly to lessen their numbers the suc- ceeding year. Manure for the early Cabbage crop should always be spread on broadcast, and in quantity not less than 100 cart loads, or seventy-five tons to the acre, which will leave it^ when spread, about two or three inches in thick- ness. It is not unusual that much choice can be made in stable manure, but when such is the case, equal por- tions of cow and horse manure are preferable, not that there is much difference in value, weight for weight, but that it is advantageous to have the manure of the cow stable mixed with that of the horse, so as to prevent the violent heating of the horse manure, which, if not repeatedly turned, will generate heat so as to cause -it to " fire fang" or burn, which renders it comparatively use- less. Always bear in mind that the more thoroughly rotted and disintegrated manure can be had, the better will be the results. When manure is thoroughly rotted and short, it may be turned in by the plow just as it is spread on the land, but if long, it is necessary to draw it into the furrow ahead of the plow, so that it is completely covered in. After plowing in the manure, 148 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. and before the ground is harrowed, our best growers in the vicinity of New York sow from 400 to 500 pounds of guano or bone dust, and then harrow it in deeply, and smooth over with the back of the harrow, when the bed. is ready to receive the plants. In the vicinity of New York, and, in fact, now wher- ever the business of market gardening is intelligently followed, the two best kinds of Cabbage for the early crop are recognized to be the " Early Jersey Wakefield" and "Henderson's Early Summer" for general culture, and to describe others of the scores* named would be only confusing. "Jersey Wakefield" is the earliest and a little the smallest, and is planted usually twenty-eight inches between the rows and sixteen inches between the plants, thus requiring from 10,000 to 12,000 plants per acre. " Early Summer " grows a little larger, and should be planted thirty inches apart and eighteen inches between plants, requiring from 8,000 to 10,000 per acre. The reason for placing the rows so wide apart and the plants so close in the rows, is to admit of a row of Lettuce, Spinach or Radishes between the rows of Cabbage. All of these vegetables mature quickly, and can be cut out before the Cabbage grows enough to inter- fere with them, and it is necessary that this double crop should be taken off the land so as to help pay for the manure that is so lavishly used, but which is absolutely necessary to produce a good crop of Cabbages. Where early Cabbages are grown alone, then it would be better to plant about two or two and a half feet each way, so that cross cultivation can be done ; and also in cases where manure in sufficient quantities is not attainable, they are better thus planted when manure has to be applied in the hill. If applied in the hill, a good shov- elful of stable manure should be used to each, mixing it well with the soil, but raising the "hill," so-called, no higher than the general surface. VEGETABLES CABBAGE AND CAULIFLOWER. 149 There lias been a want long felt by many of the market gardeners and' truckers for a variety of Cabbage which would come in after the Early Summer and before any of the late sorts, but such a sort, with all the characteristics of the Henderson's Early Summer, of standing without bursting, of being later, and consequently larger, is hard to obtain. Through the medium, however, of the same good- friend who first brought to our notice the Hender- son's Early Summer, Mr. Abraham Van Sicklen, of Long Island, we think we will be able, within another year, to present to the public a variety of Cabbage which will exactly supply this long-felt want. That is, of a Cabbage to succeed the Early Summer, being about two weeks later than the average crop of that variety, larger, and with all its good characteristics of standing in the field without bursting and of regularity in habit, close grow- ing and sure heading. I have not yet named this variety, as I wish another season's test of it before deciding to give it to the public ; but if it should prove itself during another season as valuable as in the last two it will be a decided acquisition. The raising of Cabbage, Cauliflower and Lettuce plants will, for " wintered over" plants, be found under the head of "Uses and Management of Cold Frames," and for spring plants under the head of " Spring Raising of Cabbage, Cauliflower and Lettuce Plants." WHAT DEGREE OF FROST WILL CABBAGE AND CAULI- FLOWER STAND IN THE FRAMES BEFORE BEING COH- ERED WITH THE SASH ? This is often a source of anxiety to beginners. Much depends on the condition of the plants ; it sometimes happens that after the transplanting is finished to Octo- ber (we usually begin the transplanting in the frames about the 15th), that we have a continuation of com- 150 GARDENING FOB PROFIT. paratively warm weather, which induces a quick and soft growth in the plants, which, of course, renders them very susceptible to injury from frost. When in that condition we have seen them injured when the thermo- meter only marked twenty-seven above zero, or but five degrees of frost ; while if gradually hardened by being exposed to chilly nights, they would receive no injury, even when the thermometer marks ten or twelve above zero. This will be well understood when we remember that in midwinter, when covered with sash alone, they sustain a cold often for days together of ten degrees beloiv zero, but then of course they have been gradually inured to it. In sections of the country where the ther- mometer falls to fifteen or twenty degrees below zero, it will be necessary to use straw mats or shutters over the glass. At all times from the time of putting sashes on in fall until taking them off in spring (which is usually from March 15th to April 1st), abundant ventilation should be given, so as to render them as hardy as pos- sible. The sure indication that they are in the "frost proof " condition is, when the leaves show a bluish color, which they get when they have been gradually hardened off. Although the most of the Jersey market gardeners still use the cold frames for growing the bulk of their early Cabbage crop, of late years the system of spring sowing and transplanting, and sometimes even without transplanting, is also used to a considerable extent. For full instructions, on this point, see page 51, "Spring Raising of Cabbage, Cauliflower and Lettuce." In the latitude of New York, Cabbage planting is usually begun about the 25th of March and finished by middle of April. It must always be borne in mind that Cabbage, being a very hardy plant, when wanted for an early crop, its setting out in spring should be done in any section as soon as the land is dry enough to work. As a guide, we may say that whenever spring crops of VEGETABLES CABBAGE AND CAULIFLOWER. 151 Rye, Wheat or Oats can be sown, Cabbage may safely be planted in the open field, for if plants have been properly hardened they will not be injured after being planted out even by eight or ten degrees of frost. The conditions in the different Southern States are so varied that it is not easy to give directions. It may be taken, however, as a general rule that in any section of the country where the thermometer does not fall lower that fifteen above zero, the seed for Cabbage plants should be sown about October 1st, left (without cover- ing) in the seed-beds all winter, and transplanted to the open ground as soon as it is fit to work in spring, say January or February. In sections where the fall weather continues fine into November, transplanting is done in that month to where the crop is to mature. Great loss is often occasioned in mild seasons in the Southern States, by Cabbages, particularly the favorite variety " Early Summer " running to seed. As a remedy against this danger I would advise sowing from two to four weeks later than the usual time, in such a way as they could be covered in cold nights only with muslin, or, what is better, the new protecting cloth ; these will answer all the pur- poses of sashes at one-tenth of their cost. I refer to this cloth more fully in another portion of this work. After planting in the field, no crop takes so kindly to hoeing or cultivating as the Cabbage, In ten days after the planting is finished, cultivation should begin. If the Cabbages have been set two or two and a half feet apart each way, then the horse cultivator is the best pulver- izer, but if a crop has been sown or planted between the rows of Cabbage, then a hand or wheel hoe can only be used we ourselves now use the Planet Jr. Wheel Hoe exclusively, and find it a saving of three-fourths in labor, with the work better done. The price at which early Cabbage is now sold varies so much at different dates, and in different parts of the 162 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. country, that it is impossible to give anything like accu- rate figures, the range being all the way from $2 to $12 per 100. Perhaps $4 would be a fair average for "Wakefield" and 85 for "Early Summer," so that counting 11,000 as the average per acre of the former and 9,000 of the latter, we have respectively $440 per acre for "Wakefield" and $450 for "Early Summer." These are the wholesale prices for large markets like New York. In smaller cities, where the product is sold direct to the consumer, one-third more would likely be obtained. LATE CABBAGES are such as mature during the months of September, October and November, the seed for which is sown in open ground in May or June. Perhaps the best date for sowing for main crop is about the 1st of June. We al- ways prefer to sow Cabbage seed for this purpose in rows ten or twelve inches apart, treading in the seed with the feet, after sowing and before covering ; we then level with a rake lengthwise with the rows and roll or beat down with the back of a spade, so as to exclude the air from the soil and from the seed. Sown in this way, Cabbage seed will come up strongly in the driest weather, and is less likely to be afflicted with the black flea than if it made a feeble growth. When the plants get too tall, mow two or three inches off the tops, which will make them stouter and stronger rooted. As the ground used for late Cabbage only yields one crop, unless manure is cheap and abundant, it will not often pay to use it in the profusion required for early Cabbages, so that it is usual to manure in the hill, as is done for early crops, if with stable manure, but when that is not attainable, some concentrated fertilizer, such as bone dust or guano should be used, giving a good handful for each hill, but being careful, of course, to mix it well with the VEGETABLES CABBAGE AND CAULIFLOWER. 153 soil for about nine or ten inches deep and wide. In this way about 300 pounds per acre will be needed, when 6,000 or 7,000 plants are set on an acre. In our prac- tice we find nothing better than pure bone dust and guano mixed together. In transplanting Cabbages from the seed-bed to the open field in summer, the work is usually done in a dry and hot season end of June or July and here again we give our oft-repeated warning of the absolute neces- sity of having every plant properly firmed. If the plant- ing is well done with the dibber, it may be enough, but it is often not well done, and as a measure of safety, it is always best to turn back on the rows after planting and press alongside of each plant with the foot. This is quickly done, and it besides rests the planter, so that he can start on the next row with greater vigor. In some sections of the country, particularly in the New England States, six or eight Cabbage seeds are planted in the hills, and when of the height of two or three inches, are thinned out to one plant in each hill. This we think not only a slower method, but is otherwise objectionable, inasmuch as it compels the manure to be placed for three or four weeks in the ground before the plant can take it up, to say nothing of the three or four weeks' culture necessary to be done before the seedlings in the hill get to the size of the plants when set cnit. The cultivation of late Cabbage is, in all respects, similar to that of early, except as it is usually planted alone ; the work of cultiva- tion is done entirely by the horse cultivator, the rows and plants in the rows being, according to the kind, from twenty-four to thirty inches apart. There are a great number of kinds offered in the different seed lists, but experienced cultivators confine themselves to but very few kinds. These we give in the order in which they are most approved : " Henderson's Selected Flat Dutch," "American Drumhead/' and " Marblehead Mammoth." 154 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. Iii addition to these, the "American Drumhead Savoy' 5 is grown to a considerable extent, and it is really surprising that it is not grown to the exclusion of nearly all other sorts, as it attains to nearly as much weight of crop, is much more tender, and finer in flavor. The "Green Scotch " and " Brown German Kalo" belong to the Cab- bage family, but do not form heads. The curled leaves of the whole plant can be used, and are, lilio the " Savoy," much finer in flavor than the plain headed cab- bages, particularly after having been subjected to frost. KEEPING CABBAGES IN WINTER. It is best to leave late Cabbages out as late as possible, provided they can be lifted before being frozen in. In this latitude they can be safely left out until the third week in November. They are then dug or pulled 'up, accord- ing to the nature of the soil, and turned upside down the roots up, the heads down just where they have been growing, and the heads placed closely together in beds, six or eight feet wide, with alleys of about same width between, care being taken to have the ground leveled, so that the Cabbages will set evenly together. They can be left in this way for three or four weeks, or as long as the ground remains so that it can be dug in the alleys between the beds, the soil from which is thrown in on the beds of Cabbage, so that when finished they have a covering of six or seven inches of soil, or sufficient to cover up the roots completely. Sometimes they are cov- ered up immediately on being lifted, by plowing a fur- row, shoveling it out wide enough to receive the heads, then plowing, so as to cover up, and so on till beds six or eight feet wide are thus formed. This plan is the quickest, but it has the disadvantage, if the season proves mild, of having the Cabbages covered up by the soil too soon, and hence more danger of decay. After the ground is frozen, stable litter, straw or leaves, to the depth 01 VEGETABLES CABBAGE AND CAULIFLOWER. 155 three or four inches, should be thrown over the Cabbage beds, so as to prevent excessive freezing, and to facilitate the getting at the Cabbages in hard weather. INSECTS ATTACKING THE CABBAGE. The insects that attack the Cabbage tribe are various, and for some of them we regret to say that we are almost helpless in arresting their ravages. Young Cabbage plants in fall or in hot-beds in spring, are often troubled with the Aphis, or, as it is popularly known, the " Green fly," or "Green louse." This is easily destroyed by hav- ing the plants dusted over once or twice with tobacco dust. This same insect, of a blue color, is often disas- trous to the growing crop in the field, and, on its first appearance, tobacco dust should be applied, as, of course, if the Cabbage is headed up, it could not be used ; hence, it is always best to apply it as a preventive remedy. Another insect which attacks them in these stages is a species of slug, or small caterpillar a green, glutinous insect, about one-fourth or one-half an inch in length. This is not quite so easily destroyed as the other, but will succumb to a mixture of one part white hellebore to four parts lime dust, sprinkled on thick enough as to slightly whiten the plants. This same remedy we have found to be the most effica- cious in preventing the ravages of the " Black Flea," or "Jumping Jack," that is often so destructive to Cabbage plants sown or planted in open ground during May and June, but in this case ics application may have to be repeated daily often for two weeks. Another most troublesome insect is the Cabbage cater- pillar, which often attacks the crop when just beginning to head. This is the larva of a species of small white butterfly, which deposits its eggs on the crop in May or June. When fields of Cabbage are isolated, or where neighbors can be found to act in unison, the best plan is 15G GARDENING FOR PROFIT. to catch the butterflies with an insect-catching net as soon as they show themselves. This is the most effective and quickest way to get rid of them. However, if that has been neglected, the caterpillar can be destroyed by dusting white hellebore on the Cabbages, but, of course, this cannot be done when the heads are matured enough to be ready to use, as the hellebore is to some extent poi- sonous, though if used when the plants are about half grown, it will do no harm, as the rains will have washed it off sufficiently by the time they head up. The insects here described are not, probably, all that afflict the Cab- bage crop. A letter just received from a gentleman in Montgomery, Alabama, says that the young Cabbage plants in that region are often swept off in twenty-four hours by a small green worm a species of slug or cater- pillar, no doubt. The remedy for all such is white helle- bore powder, which had better be dusted on the plants once a week, as a preventive, before the insect makes its appearance. In fact, all remedies against insects are best used as preventives, or, at least, on their first appearance. But the insect enemies that attack the roots of the Cabbage are not so easy to destroy. In fact, with the Wire Worm and Callage Maggot we are almost helpless, as far as my experience has gone. For the latter, which is the worst enemy, a remedy has recently been recom- mended to me which as yet I have not tested. It is to make a hole with the dibber five or six inches deep, close to each root, and drop into it nine or ten drops of bi- sulphide of carbon, closing up the hole again. Last year the Cabbage and Cauliflower in our "trial grounds " were attacked by the Cabbage maggot at the roots early in May. A small handful of Peruvian guano was at once strewn around each plant and hoed in around the roots ; this at once started an unusual vigor of growth, which sustained the plants until they matured excellent heads. Understand, the guano did not injure VEGETABLES CABBAGE AXD TAULIFLOWER. 157 the insect; it only enabled the Cabbage to outgrow its attack. This season (1886), after plowing our Cabbage ground, we gave it a heavy dressing of lime, thick enough to almost completely whiten the ground. This was thoroughly harrowed in, and to further help against the attack of the maggot, after the plants had been set out three or four weeks, we removed the earth around the stem, and again sprinkled a little lime around it. This has completely stopped the attack of the maggots, for, in a portion of a neighbor's field adjoining, the mag- gots have nearly destroyed the crop. But one of the best preventives against the maggot is to plant early, so that the plants get strong enough to overcome their attack. Our market gardeners here rarely have trouble with their main early crops, which are planted last of March or first week in April. In our own trial grounds, having to wait until our samples come in, we do not get our seeds of early Cabbage and Cauli- flower sown until first week in March, which is a month too late, hence the liability of the too tender plants to the attack of the maggot. One of the most common mis- takes of the inexperienced market gardener is, to delay the planting of early Cabbage too late. Many of them in this latitude delay planting until May, which, if the ground is dry enough to work, had far better be done in April. For the destruction of the insect which causes the excrescence known as "club root" in Cabbage, a heavy dressing of lime in fall and spring will check it to a great extent. In fact, on lands adjacent to the shores of New York Bay, where the soil is mixed with oyster shells, "club root" is rarely seen, Cabbage having been grown on some fields, successively, for fifty years, without a trace of it being seen, showing that the insect which causes the "club root" cannot exist in contact with lime ; for it is 158 GARDENING FOE PBOFIT. found on lands where there is no oyster shell deposit, a quarter of a mile distant, where Cabbages cannot be grown two years in succession on the same land, unless heavily dressed with lime, and even then, it is always deemed safest never to plant Cabbages two years in succession on the same ground ; for, while such crops as onions show but little benefit by rotation with other crops, Cabbages perhaps more than anything else, are benefited by such alternation, and when it can be done, nothing is better than to let the Cabbage crop be alternated with a green crop, such as German Millet, Timothy or Clover, or else a crop of Oats or Eye. This is the method pursued by many of the Long Island market gardeners, who grow for the New York market, where their lands are cheap enough to allow them to do so. But the gardeners of Hudson County, New Jersey, which is in sight of New York City, whose lands now are limited in area, and for which an average of 150 per acre rent is paid per annum, cannot well afford to let their lands lay thus comparatively idle, and, in consequence, do not now raise as fine crops as the lands thus "rested" by the grass or grain crops. If the land for the Cabbage crop is of a kind suitable to grow a good crop of Corn or Potatoes, and is tilled or fertilized in the manner advised, it is rare indeed that a crop will fail to head, if the plants are in good condition and have been properly planted, unless they are attacked by the maggot or "club root." In our trial ground, where over a hundred different sorts of Cabbage are tested each year, we have found that every kind of Cab- bage tested, early or late, has produced solid heads, showing that when the conditions are right, all kinds of Cabbages will head up and produce a crop, though, of course, some are earlier, larger and heavier than others hence, the value of known selected kinds. A circumstance came under our notice in the summer VEGETABLES CABBAGE A^D CAULIFLOWER. 159 of 1882, which well illustrates the necessity for care in planting. We had sold, some time in February, a large lot of our "Early Summer" Cabbage seed to two market gardeners in Rochester, N. Y. The orders were filled from the same bag of seed. Some time about the end of June one of the market gardeners wrote, saying that he had evi- dently got some spurious kind of Cabbage from us, as his neighbor was marketing his crop, while in his own field of ten acres, he had not a head fit to cut, nor was there any appearance of their ever being so, he thought. Inves- tigation showed that no Maggot, "club root," or other insect was affecting the roots ; the land was nearly iden- tical with that which had made a successful crop, and had been equally well manured and cultivated. So the only probable solution of the matter was, that the plants in the case of failure had been loosely planted and had failed to make a prompt start, as in the other case where the planting had been properly done, so that while the one lot advanced without a check, the growth of the other lot was arrested. This was undoubtedly the case, for there could be no cause for the difference unless on some such hypothesis. But there was a fortunate sequel, to the case. It luckily happened that a heavy rainstorm occurred while the Cabbages were yet in this unheaded condition. This started, as it were, a second growth, which resulted m their forming splendid heads by August 1st, at a time when Cabbages were scarce, which, luckily for the owner, brought a much higher price than if they had matured at the proper season in June or July. The result was fortunate for us who had sold the seed, for had it not rained so opportunely, the crop might never have headed up, and it would then have been hard to convince the man that he had not been furnished with a spurious kind of seed. What has been advised for Cabbage crops, either early or late, is exactly the culture necessary for a crop of Cauliflower, except that Cauli- 160 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. flower, being a plant of more delicate constitution, it re- quires to be more carefully handled ; for, where the Cabbifge plants in the cold frames will safely keep over winter in this latitude with no covering but the glass sash, Cauliflower plants require the use of straw mats over the sashes, as the plant is much more easily hurt by frost. In fact, in our increased experience, we find that it is better not to keep the plants through the winter ; those sown in February and transplanted into cold frames in March, and planted in the open ground in April, as recommended in the Chapter headed ''Spring liaising of Cabbage, Cauliflower and Lettuce/' doing rather better and costing much less in labor. The plants, however, must be started early enough, so that they can be set out not later than middle of April, for if not rooted well before warm weather sets in, they will either " button" that is, form small stunted flowers Or else fail entirely to head up. Cauliflower delights in a cool atmosphere, and never does well when the season is hot and dry, unless complete irriga- tion can be given when the plant is about half grown. If this can be done the crop is certain. We ourselves grew in this manner nearly an acre for many years, the crop selling for an average of $1,200 per acre annually, and that was before we had introduced the now famous variety known as " Henderson's Early Snowball," which is ahead of all other kinds in its certainty to make a crop. The next in succession to this, is the "Early Erfurt," which is again succeeded by the " Early Paris," but neither of these in any respect is equal to the "Snowball." For late crop, the varieties known as "Algiers" and "Erfurt" are the kinds usually grown. The plants are obtained by sowing at the same dates as for late Cabbages. It is planted three feet each w r ay and cultivated exactly as late Cabbages and often sells as high as $25 per 100 in iNovember and December. We are of VEGETABLES CABBAGE AND CAULIFLOWEK. 161 the opinion, however, that the " Snowball," of which twice the number can be grown per acre, will prove a more profitable crop even for late, than the " Algiers," as it is assuredly more certain to form heads. It is not once in twenty years that a variety of vegetables or fruit makes such an advance in earliness and quality as this " Snowball" Cauliflower, and we have much satis- faction in the knowledge that we were the first to bring it into cultivation about five years ago. It is now grown to almost the entire exclusion of all other early kinds of Cauliflower in this country, and hundreds have succeeded, both North and South, in raising a crop from this variety, who had previously completely failed with all other kinds. In Cauliflowers, as in Cabbages, it is folly to attempt the experiment of many kinds. Long experience has taught us that two or three of each for early and second early is all sufficient. Although our seed catalogues enumerate scores of kinds, gardeners who know what they are about, fight shy of all except those whose merit has been proved beyond any question of a doubt. For this reason we only give the names of such as we know to be the best. As yet nearly all Cauliflower seed is imported, as we have not yet been successful in raising it here so as to give satisfactory results, our climate seeming to be un- suited for the growth of the seed. .But Cabbage seed is almost exclusively grown here. Though the imported seed costs less than half the price, we rarely have found it safe enough to risk it for market garden crops ; the American grown Cabbage seeds should be exclusively used. 162 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. VARIETIES OF CABBAGE -EARLY. Early Jersey Wakefield, The first notoriety that this variety attained was when we first wrote " Gardening for Profit." That was nearly twenty years ago, and since then it has deservedly taken the- first place as an early market variety. To most growers the merits and char- acteristics of the variety are so well known as to hardly need repeating here, but for the benefit of those who muy not be familiar with it, we would say that it is univers- i. 25. EARLY JERSEY WAKEFIELD CABBAGE. ally considered the best early Cabbage in cultivation. Among its merits may be mentioned its large size of head, small outside foliage, and its uniformity in producing a crop. The heads are pyramidal in shape, having a blunted or rounded peak. A few years after the introduction of the Wakefield Cabbage, we found that it broke into over a dozen sub- varieties, of varying size of leaf and shape of head, and, worse than all, of varying earliness. No matter how VEGETABLES CABBAGE. 163 carefully we selected the heads that we used for seed, the same difficulty occurred. A few miles inland, some- where near the Orange Mountain, New Jersey, we found that an old German was always ahead of us in having the first Wakefields in New York market, and these, too, of a uniformity in shape that none of us nearer the city could produce. All inducements to get him to sell seed were disregarded, and year after year he kept the lead. Several plans were laid to circumvent him, such as order- ing a hundred of his Cabbages with roots on. But old Carl was not to be caught so. He filled the order to the letter, making the buyer pay roundly for the roots, but took the liberty of first dipping them in boiling water ! But one day he invited a friend and countryman to see his wonderful Cabbages as they grew. This was a fatal day for Carl's monopoly, for his friend had his eyes about him, and observed that several of the stumps from which the earliest heads had been cut, were marked with a stake, as were a few of the choicest shape, as yet uncut. The secret was out. Carl's success had been gained by persistently, year after year, selecting the earliest and finest heads ; taking up the stumps from which they were cut, he planted them carefully, and, removing the young shoots produced from the stumps, he treated them exactly as we treat cuttings of a flower; that is, by plant- ing the slip in the soil, watering it freely, and shading it until it rooted. After these cuttings or shoots of the Cabbage were rooted, they were planted in the usual Cab- bage-frame, covered with glass in winter, set out in spring, like a plant from the seed, and next July ripened seed. This process is too expensive and slow to follow for raising Cabbage seed in quantity, but it is now used by careful growers to produce pure and improved stock from which to raise seed. 164 GARDENING FOE PROFIT. Henderson's Early Summer, This peerless variety originated with Mr. Abraham Van Si-cklen, of Jamaica, Long Island, N. Y., (to whom I paid $600 for twenty pounds of the seed), but was named and first introduced by me in 1874. The Early Summer heads about ten days later than the Jersey Wakefield, but being of over double the size, it may be classed as the best large early Cabbage. In weight it is equal to most of the late vari- Fig. 26. HENDERSON'S EARLY SUMMER CABBAGE. eties, and its short outer leaves enable it to be planted as close as the Wakefield, or at the rate of about 10,000 to 12,000 to the acre, while the Early Flat Dutch, Win- ningstadt, etc., producing no larger heads, can only be grown at the rate of 8,000 to the acre. It is equally valuable to use as a late sort, as, when sown and planted at the proper time for late Cabbage to be used in winter, we consider it has 110 superior. Premier, A variety of quite recent introduction, exceedingly early, and much valued as a market sort. VEGETABLES CABBAGE. 165 The heads are somewhat smaller than the Wakefield, but, as it forms very small outer leaves, it can be planted one- third closer fifteen or eighteen inches apart each way, or from 14,000 to 16,000 to the acre. Early Winningstadt. This is really a second early variety, coming in about three weeks later than any of the above. It is an excellent sort, however, where first earliness is not the object, as it heads uniformly and is of large size, often weighing twenty pounds. It is a dis- tinct variety; head pyramidal, the outer leaves spiral and spreading. It requires to be planted wider than the early sorts. For this reason, together with its compara- tive lateness, it is not a favorite in gardens where two crops are grown in one season. Early Flat Dutch, A very dwarf variety, having large round heads, almost flat on top. It is a very excel- lent variety for a succession crop, being two or three weeks behind the earliest sorts, but is now almost sup- planted by the Early Summer. CABBAGE. LATE. Selected Late Flat Dutch, (See figure 27.) An excellent standard variety, making large flat heads, very solid, and an excellent keeper for late winter use. Al- though it grows larger than the " Early Summer," yet as it has to be planted one-third wider apart, it gives no more weight per acre. It is very largely grown as an early fall sort. It is very tender and of excellent flavor, and is largely used for Sauer Kraut. Fottler's Improved Brunswick, A second early and late variety, used originally by the Boston gardeners, but which is now cultivated quite generally all over the country. It produces large heads of excellent quality. 1G6 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. Marblehead Mammoth Drumhead. Probably the largest variety of Cabbage in cultivation, specimens often growing to weigh sixty pounds. In good soil and with proper culture it will average thirty pounds. The heads are round and somewhat irregular in shape. It should be cultivated with the plants four feet apart each way. Filder Kraut, This resembles the Winningstadt, but Fig. 27. SELECTED LATE FLAT DUTCH CABBAGE. is larger and more pointed. Also largely grown for Sauer Kraut. American Drumhead Savoy, This is the largest of the Savoy class, and is the sort most generally cultivated for market. The head is large, spherical, very solid, compact and of a yellowish-green color, and, like all of the Savoy varieties, is of excellent flavor, far surpassing that of any other late Cabbage. Still, such is the force of habit, that the public do not purchase one Savoy for every thousand of the coarse Drumhead Cabbages, al- VEGETABLES CAULIFLOWER, 167 though the difference in quality between the two is as great as between the fox grape of the woods and the cultivated Delaware. Grown in fall and al- lowed to be touched by frost, it is one of the most delicious of all vegetables. (See figure 28.) Red Dutch, This is used almost exclu- sively for pickling. It is one of the hardiest of all Cabbages, and when preserved as di- Fig> 28. -AMERICAN DRUMHEAD SAVOY rected for the others. CABBAGE. will keep later in the season than any of them. It is slow to mature, however, and requires a richer soil for its perfect development. Mammoth Rock Red, A new large-growing selected strain of the old Red Cabbage, the heads of which will average twelve pounds each. CAULIFLOWER. As the cultivation of Cauliflower is almost identical with that of Cabbage, and as these are two of the most important of all crops to the market gardener, very full instructions are given under " How to grow Cabbage and Cauliflower," on page 51. Henderson's Early Snowball, (See figure 29). This variety, introduced six years ago by me, is now the lead- ing early variety. We have found it to be not only the 168 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. earliest of all Cauliflowers, but it is more certain to make a Lead than any other variety we have ever grown. Soion March 1st in our trial grounds in Jersey City (which, however, is a month too late), at the same time and under the same conditions with other kinds, heads of the Early Snowball measuring nine inches in diameter have been ready to market by June 10th, one week before any other sort. From its dwarf growth and short outer leaves, this variety has been found to be peculiarly well adapted for forcing under glass, and for this purpose no other variety is now so largely grown. It is also begin- ning to be used for the fall crop of Cauliflower, for which Fig. 29. HENDERSON'S EARLY SNOWBALL CAULIFLOWER. it is equally well adapted as for the early crop. From 12,000 to 13,000 are planted on an acre. This variety is a very shy seed-bearer, and the consequent high price ol the seed has induced unprincipled dealers in many sections of the country to substitute spurious sorts. In our trial grounds we found that in a test of ten of these samples purporting to be the true *' Snowball," not one was correct, and nearly all were worthless. VEGETABLES CARDOO^. 169 Extra Early Dwarf Erfurt, This fine sort is a dwarf, compact, growing kind, producing uniformly large heads. The leaves grow larger and not so close as the Snowball, besides it is not so early. Extra Early Paris, This well-known variety is equally meritorious in all respects with the Erfurt, ex- cept that it requires more space to grow in, as it forms larger heads. Half Early Paris or Nonpareil, A useful variety for succession crop. The difficulty with Cauliflowers for market is, that the whole crop comes in and must be sold in a space of two or three weeks, unless we have a suc- cession of varieties. Le Normand's Short Stemmed, A large late variety, producing well-formed heads of excellent quality. Large Late Algiers. An excellent late variety, now coming into very general favor on Long Island, New York, and other Cauliflower-growing districts. Enor- mous quantities of this variety are annually grown for market and pickling, with varying results, sometimes selling as high as $25 per 100, and again as low as $3. It is usually planted quite wide three by three feet each wa v and worked by horse cultivation. It is a good plan to break and turn down the leaves of Cauliflower over the head as it is developed. This not only keeps it whiter, but prevents its spreading. CABDOON. (Cynara Cardunculus.) A vegetable that is but little grown, and grown oftener as a novelty than for use. It belongs to the same family as the Artichoke, which it much resembles. The leaf stems, after blanching, are used in soups or in sal- ads. It is cultivated by sowing the seeds in early spring, 170 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. thinly, in rows three feet apart, and thinning out to eighteen inches between the plants. The plant attains its growth in early fall, when it is blanched by tying the leaves together so as to cause an erect growth, after which it is earthed up, and preserved exactly as we do Celery. CARROT. (Daucus Carota). This may be classed more as a crop of the farm than of the garden, as a far larger area is grown for the food of horses and cattle than for culinary purposes. Yet it is a salable vegetable in our markets, and by no means an unprofitable one to grow on lands not too valuable. It is not necessary that the land for this crop should be highly enriched. I have grown on sod land (which had been turned over in fall), 300 barrels per acre, without a particle of manure, and three years after, and on the same land, which had been brought up to our market garden standard of fertility, a very inferior crop; the land being too rich, induced a growth of tops rather than roots. In our ma*rket gardens, we sow in rows fourteen inches apart, thinning out to three or four inches between the plants ; but on farm lanis, where space is not so valuable, they should be planted eighteen or twenty-four inches between the rows, and worked with the cultivator. For early crops, we sow at the beginning of our first operations in spring, in the same manner as we sow Beets, as soon as the ground is thoroughly dry ; but for later crops, they may be sown any time in this latitude until the middle of June. This is one of the vegetables that requires a close watching to see that it does not get enveloped with weeds, as, in its early stage, it is of com- paratively feeble growth, and unless it is kept clean from the start, it is apt to be irrevocably injured. VEGETABLES CARROT. 171 The usually prescribed quantity of seed per acre is five pounds, but I have always considered it safer to sow nearly double that quantity. In dry weather it germi- nates feebly, and not infrequently, when seed comes up thinly, it is scorched off by the hot sun, and the saving of a few pounds of seed may entail the loss of half the crop. We prefer to sow all such crops by hand, though for field culture on a large scale, the seed drill should be used. In all cases tread in the seed see "Use of the Feet in Sowing and Planting," Chapter 12 to which, even at the risk of repetition, I again beg to call atten- tion. The Carrot, like all other root crops, delights in a sandy loam, deeply tilled. Considerable quantities of the early varieties are sold in our markets in bunches, in a half-grown state, at prices equal to early Beets sold in the same manner. Sold in this state, they are highly profitable at the prices received, but only limited quan- tities can be disposed of. In the dry state, during fall and winter, they range from $1.50 to $2 per barrel, according to quality, and at these prices will yield double the profit of Potatoes as a farm crop. The varietes in general cultivation are limited. The favorite variety for all purposes is the Early French Forcing, The earliest variety, and one largely grown for forcing purposes. It makes a small, almost globe-shaped root, of an orange-red color. Early Scarlet Horn, An old and favorite sort for an early crop, but not large enough to be suitable for general culture. It is one of the varieties that is bunched and sold in our markets in a green state. It matures eight to ten days earlier than the Long Orange, and is some- times used for forcing. Half Long: Red (Stump Rooted). (See figure 30.) At this time this variety is more largely grown for the New 172 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. York market than any other, and is the finest of the early sorts. It is intermediate in size and time of maturity between the Early Scarlet Horn and the Long Orange. Early Half Long Scarlet (Pointed Rooted), The only difference between this and the preceding variety is that it has a pointed instead of a stump or blunt root. Early Half Long Scarlet < arontan, A distinct variety, almost cylindrical, with few and very small roots. The skin is smooth, flesh red, and without any core or heart. It is excel- lent for forcing, and for fine quality; and perfect shape can hardly be sur- a>HAL Fig. 31.-LONG ORANGE IM Long Orange Im- proved. (See fig- ure 31.) This is equally adapted for market and family use. It is of large LONG RED STUMP- v/ -** *^ u - size, lair specimens ROOTED CARROT. PROVED CARROT. averaging twelve inches in length, with a diameter of three inches at the top; color, orange red, varying in depth of shade in dif- erent soils. Danvers, (See figure 32.) The color of this valu- able sort, which is of comparatively recent introduction, VEGETABLES CHERVIL. 173 is a rich shade of orange. In shape it is midway be- tween the Early Scarlet Horn md the Long Orange. Under the best cultivation, it is said to have yielded from twenty-five to thirty tons of roots per acre. Large White Belgian. The most productive of all varieties. The root is white ; that part growing above ground, and exposed to the air, green. It is exclusively grown for stock, bearing nearly twice as much in weight per acie as the Long Orange. Horses do not eat it quite so readily, however, and'it is said to be less nutritious than the red or orange sorts. Yellow Belgian. Similar to above ; color, yellow. CHERVIL. TURNIP-BOOTED. (Cho&rophyllum bulbosum.) A vegetable of recent introduction, closely allied to the Parsnip, which it resembles in shape. It is of a grayish color ; the flesh is white and mealy, tasting something like the Sweet Potato. It is equally as hardy as the Parsnip, and in France, where it has been culti- vated to a considerable extent, is said to have yielded six tons per acre. It is one of the many plants that were experimented with in Europe as a substitute for the Potato, when it was feared that that tuber would be lost to us by disease. Its culture is in all respects similar to the Parsnip or Carrot ; it is entirely hardy in any lati- tude, and is rather improved by the action of the frost. It must be sown as early in spring as the soil is fit to work, it being slow to germinate if the weather becomes hot and dry. 174 GARDENING FOR PROFIT, CELERY. (Apium graveolens.) I know of no vegetable upon which so much unneces- sary labor is expended with such unsatisfactory results as Celerv. Many private cultivators still think ic necessary to dig out trenches, from six to twelve inches deep, involving great labor and expense, and giving a crop very inferior to that planted on the level surface, in the man- ner practiced on hundreds of acres by the market garden- ers in the vicinity of New York. Our manner of treating the Celery crop is now very simple. Instead of sowing the seed in a hot-bed or cold frame, which is the European plan, but not practicable here (unless when on such soils as the muck deposits at Kalamazoo, Michigan), owing to the tendency of plants thus sown to run to seed, the seed is sown in the open ground as soon as that is fit to work in spring here about first week in April on a level piece of rich mellow soil, that has been specially prepared by thorough pul- verizing and mixing with short stable manure. I have had large experience in growing Celery plants, as our demand for the plants often reaches 2,000,000 of plants in a season, and we never fail in getting a crop by rigidly adhering to the following simple method. The bed being fined down by raking, so that it is clear of stones and all inequalities, lines are drawn out by the " marker" eight or nine inches apart, in beds of eight rows in each, rubbing out every ninth mark for an alley, on which to walk when weeding, etc. The seed should be sown rather thinly, one ounce being sufficient for twenty feet in length of such a bed, or about 150 feet of row. The seed is sown by hand in the rows : after the sower follows a man who evenly presses down the seed in the drill with the feet. That done, the back of a rake is drawn lightly lengthivise of the bed, which slightly cov- VEGETABLES CELERY. 175 ers the seed to the average depth of something less than half an inch. After this, the bed is still further firmed and levelled by being rolled, or in small areas evenly patted down with the back of a spade. As soon as the seeds of Celery begin to germinate, so that the rows can be traced, hoe lightly between the rows, and begin to pnll out the weeds as soon as they can be seen. One day's work, at the proper time, will be better than a dozen after the seed-bed gets enveloped with weeds, besides insuring much finer plants. As the plants advance in growth, the tops are shorn off, generally twice before the time of setting out, so as to induce a stooky growth ; plants thus, treated suffer less on being transplanted. This plan of shearing off the tops we practice with Cabbage, Cauliflower and many other kinds of plants to induce stocky growth. The time of planting out in the Northern States may run from June 15th to the end of July, and in the South- ern States from August 15th to the end of September. In this section, we prefer to plant in July, as there is but little gained by attempting it early. In fact, I have often seen plants raised in hot-beds and planted out in June, far surpassed both in size and quality by those raised in the open ground and planted a month later. The great difficulty experienced in the Southern States is, in raising the plants ; for, if sown, in March or April, as we do here, the high temperature and dry atmosphere either kill the plants outright, or so shrivel them up that they never start to make a free growth. By sowing about the middle of August in extreme Southern States, shading with the protecting cloth sashes, already referred to, in hot days from 9 A. M. to 4 p. M., and planting out the end of September, a fair crop of Celery may be obtained in the late fall and early winter months. The plants are sometimes spe- cially grown at the North for planting at the South, but 176 GAFIDENI^G FOR PROFIT. in all such cases they must be plants grown from sowings made in June or July, for if grown at the North at the usual season, they would not answer, as they would become so large that they would require to be planted out before the end of July, and in most of the Southern States, if planted then, they could not stand the long- continued high temperature and dry atmosphere of August and September. It is doubtful if this special growing 01 plants is likely to be done, and our friends at the South must submit to paying us for our Celery already grown, just as we must submit to have the cream of our profits taken off by their early supply of spring vegetables. It is a geographical condition of culture that both sections must accept. In almost all the early vegetables, the first supplies come from Southern gardens, thus anticipating our crops by some weeks ; while Celery is one of the very few things with which we can compete with our Southern friends in their own markets. Celery is a plant requiring a cool, moist atmosphere, and it is nonsense to attempt to grow it early in our hot and dry climate, unless under climate and soil specially adapted, which is found in the vicinity of Kalamazoo, Michigan, Horse Heads, New York, and some other similar localities, where there is a rich vegetable deposit on level bottom lands. But even when grown, it is not a vegetable that is ever very palatable until cool weather. This our market experience well proves, for, although we always have a few bunches exposed for sale in July and August, there is not one root sold at that time for a thousand that are sold in October and November, Celery is always grown by us as a " second crop ; " that is, it follows after the spring crop of Beets, Onions, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Peas or early Potatoes, which are cleared off and marketed, at latest, by the middle of July. VEGETABLES CELERY. 177 The ground is then thoroughly plowed and harrowed. No additional manure is used, as enough remains in the ground from the heavy coat it has received in the spring, to carry through the crop of Celery. After the ground has been nicely prepared, lines are struck out on the level surface three feet apart, and the plants set six inches apart in the rows. If the weather is dry at the time of planting, great care should be taken that the roots are properly " firmed." Our custom is to turn back on the row, and press by the side of each plant Fig. 33. CELERY AFTER "HANDLING." gently with the foot. This compacts the soil and par- tially excludes the air from the root until new rootlets are formed, which will usually be in forty-eight hours, after which all danger is over. This practice of pressing the soil closely around the roots is essential in planting of all kinds, and millions of plants are annually destroyed by its omission. After the planting of the Celery is com- pleted, nothing further is to be done for six or seven weeks, except running through between the rows with the cultivator or hoe, and freeing the plants of weeds until they get strong enough to crowd them down. This will bring us to about the middle of August, by which 178 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. time we usually have, especially at night, that moist and cool atmosphere essential to the growth of Celery. Then we begin the "earthing up" necessary for blanching or whitening that which is wanted for use dur- ing the months of September, October arid November. The first operation is that of " handling," as we term it ; that is, after the soil has been drawn up against the plant with the hoe, it is further drawn close around each plant by the hand, firm enough to keep the leaves in an upright Fig. 34. CELEBY EARTHED TIP. position, and prevent them from spreading, which will leave them as shown in figure 33. This being done, more soil is drawn against the row, either by the plow or hoe, as circumstances require, so as to keep the plant in this upright position. The blanch- ing process must, however, be finished by the spade, which is done by digging the soil from between the rows and banking it up clear to the top on each side of the row of Celery, as in figure 34. Three feet is ample distance between the dwarf vari- eties, but when " Seymour's Superb," " Giant White Solid," or other large sorts are used, though they are now rarely grown, the width between the rows must be VEGETABLES CELERY. 179 at least four and a half or five feet, which entails much more labor and loss of ground. For the past fifteen years no Celery but the dwarf varieties is grown in our vicinity, which saves in consequence at least one-half in labor and one-third in 'ground, while the average price per root in market has been always equal to, and occasionally higher, than for the tall growing sorts. Nearly all market gardeners have at last got their eyes opened to the value of the dwarf sorts, and T think that a few years more will suffice to throw the large and coarse-flavored sorts, such as "Seymours Superb" and " (liant White Solid," out of our markets. The preparation of the soil and planting of Celery for winter use is the same in all respects, except that what is intended for winter need never be " banked up " with the spade. It merely requires to be put through the handling process to bring it into a compact and upright position preparatory to being stowed away in winter quarters. This should not be done before the middle of Septem- ber, or just long enough before the Celery is dug up to keep it in the upright position. We have, however, another method which we have found to answer very well for the late crop, and it is one by which more roots can be grown on the same space and with less labor than by any other. It is simply to plant the Celery one foot apart, each ivay, nothing farther be- ing required after planting, except twice or thrice hoeing to clear the crop of weeds until it grows enough to cover the ground. No handling or earthing up is required by this method, for, as the plants struggle for light, they naturally assume an upright position, the leaves all assuming the perpendicular instead of the horizontal, which is the condition essential before it is put into win- ter quarters. This method is not quite so general with us as planting in rows, and it is, perhaps, better adapted for private gardens than for market. As the plant is 180 GARDENING FOB PROFIT. more excluded from the air, the root hardly attains as much thickness as by the other plan. We are often asked for the cause of and remedy for Celery rusting or burning. The cause, we think, is the condition of the weather, which destroys the tender fibers or what are called the " working roots " of the plant, for we find it usually worse in seasons of extreme drouth or moisture, particularly in warm weather. We know of no remedy, nor do we believe there is any. We may say, however, that it is less liable to appear on new fresh soils, that are free from acids or sourness, than on old soils that have been surfeited with manure and have had no rest. Although, under ordinary conditions, if proper vari- eties of Celery are used, the crop should never be pithy or hollow, yet we have found that now and then even the most solid kinds of Celery have become more or less hol- low when planted in soft loose soils, suck as reclaimed peat bogs, where the soil is mostly composed of leaf mould. In fact, on heavy or clayey soils, the Celery will be specifically heavier than on lighter soils. Our manner of preserving Celery during the winter is now very simple, but as the knowledge of the process is not yet universally known to market gardeners in all sections of the country, I will endeavor to put it plain enough, so that my readers "may go and do likewise." In this locality we begin to dig up that which we intend for winter use about the end of October, and continue the work (always on dry days) until the 20th or 25th of November, which is as late as we dare risk it out for fear of frost. Let it be understood that Celery will stand quite a sharp frost, say ten or even fifteen degrees, while twenty or twenty-five degrees will destroy it. Hence, ex- perience has taught us that the sharp frosts that we usu- ally have during the early part of November rarely hurt it (unless in rare cases where we have had an unusual VEGETABLES CELERY. 381 warm spell succeeded by sharp frost), though often caus- ing it to droop flat on the ground, until thawed out by the sun. It must, however, never be touched when in the frozen state, or it is almost certain to decay. The ground in which it is placed for winter use should be as dry as possible, or if not dry, so arranged that no water will remain in the trench. The trench should be dug as narrow as possible, not more than ten or twelve inches wide, and of the depth exactly of the height of the Cel- ery ; that is, if the plant of the Celery be two feet in length, the depth of the drain or trench should be two Fl 35. CELERY STORED FOR WINTER. feet also. The Celery is now placed in the trench as nearly perpendicular as possible, so as to fill it up entirely, its green tops being on a level with the top of the trench. Figure 35 represents a section across trenches filled with Celery in the manner just described. No earth whatever is put to the roots other than what may adhere to them after being dug up. It being closely packed together, there is moisture enough always at the bottom of the trench to keep this plant, at the cool season of the year, from wilting, and also to induce it to form new white roots, which must be formed before the Celery will blanch. That which is put in trenches about the 25th 182 GARDENING FOR PKOFIT. of October is usually ready to be taken up for use about the 1st of December ; that a couple of weeks later, by 1st of January ; and the last (which we try always to defer to the 15th or 20th of November), may be used dur- ing the winter and until the 1st of April. For the first lot no covering is required, but that for use during the winter months must be gradually covered up until the middle of December, or until the 1st of January, when it will require at least a foot of covering of some light, dry material hay, straw, or leaves the latter perhaps the best. I have said the covering up should be gradual. This is very important ; for if the full weight of cover- ing is put on at once it prevents the passing off of the heat generated by the closely packed mass of Celery, and in consequence it to some extent "heats," and decay takes place. Covered up in this manner, it can be got out with ease during the coldest weather in winter, and with perfect safety. These dates of operations, like all others named throughout this work, arc for this latitude ; the cultivator must use his judgment carefully in this matter, to suit the section in which he is located. For market gardeners, and others who have large quan- tities, this is the best method of storing ; but for smaller growers, either for sale or for private use, quite a quan- tity may be preserved in any cellar where there is no furnace or other fire heat. When a few hundred roots only are to be stored it can bo placed in narrow boxes, say nine inches wide, four or six feet in length, and of a deptli a little less than the height of the Celery. A few inches of sand or soil is placed on the bottom of the box, but none must be put between the stalks of the Celery, and the Celery is packed in the box upright, the roots being placed on the sand at the bottom ; the Celery must be packed in as tight as possible, but without braising. Boxes thus packed and stood on the cool floor of the cellar, if put away in Govern- VEGETABLES CELEKY. 183 ber, will be "blanched" fit for use during January, February, and March. If put in sooner than No- vember it will blanch earlier, and if stored later it will keep later. If larger quantities are to be kept in the cellar, the cheapest practicable way to do so is to begin at one side next the wall, furthest from the entrance, and erect boards across the cellar, nine inches from the wall, and of a height a little less than the length of the Celery that is, if the Celery is twenty-four inches in length, the boarding may be eighteen or twenty inches high. In this narrow division the Celery is packed in u plight, as above described for packing in boxes. As soon as the first tier is filled, erect another board trench or division at nine inches distant from the first, and so on until the whole space to be used is filled up. It will be understood that no soil or sand is packed between the stalks of Celery, only two or three inches being strewn on the floor, on which the roots are placed. Simultane- ously with the formation of the white rootlets the blanch- ing process begins, which is simply the plant making an effort to grow in the dark, and thus becoming blanched or whitened. We have sometimes complaints that- Celery fails to blanch or whiten. In all such cases the roots must have been in some way injured by being frozen or driei too much while being lifted from the field, but this should never happen with ordinary .care. A cellar or root-house twenty by twenty feet, so packed, will hold from 3,000 to 5,000 roots of Celery, according to their size. Care must be taken not to get the board partitions forming the trenches, or divisions between the tiers of Celery, more than nine or ten inches apart, for if at much greater distance the stems and leaves would be in too large masses and would generate heat and rot. As the cellar or root-house is usually a damp and dark apartment, there will generally be no necessity to water the Celery after it is packed. Every means of ventilation 184 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. should be used, even in cold weather, for ifc must always be borne in mind that Celery is a vegetable that will stand quite a sharp frost without injury, so if the temperature of the cellar falls five or six degrees below the freezing point, no injury will be done. When Celery or other vegetables are packed away for preservation in cellars or in the open field, it is indispensable that no water be allowed to lodge in the pit or trench ; so that in the event of using a cellar or root-house for this purpose, a matter of first importance is thorough drainage, in soils where drainage is necessary. Kegarding the profits of this crop I can speak from a very extensive experience in its culture, having cultivated at one time, an average of ten acres for eighteen years. For many years, in the early part of that time, it was by no means what we would now call a profitable crop. By persisting in raising the large growing sorts, and the awkward and expensive mode we had then of working it, we were satisfied if it gave us a profit of $50 or $75 per acre. But for the last twenty years, by adopting the flat culture, and the drain or trench system for winter stor- age, it has done much better, and is now* a very profitable " second crop," averaging a clear profit of $250 per acre, though it rarely brings here over $2.50 per 100 roots. No doubt, in many parts of the country, it is much more profitable than in the crowded markets of New York. It is shipped from here in all directions to Philadelphia (largely), Baltimore ard Washington (South), and to Newport, Providence, Hartford and New Haven (East). It is a bulky and expensive article to ship, and the dealer must realize more than double on the purchase, or it will not pay his risk. It must thus cost the consumer, in those towns to which we send it, seven or eight cents per head, a price at which it would pay a clear profit of $1,000 or $1,500 per acre. If the awkward and laborious systems of cultivation VEGETABLES CELEKY. 185 still persisted in for the growing of Celery are a mistake, the continued use of the tall growing and coarse varieties we believe to be even a far greater one. The kinds that are offered in European catalogues are many, but in the whole list there are but few that are desirable for the market gardener or for private gardens. The climate of Eng- land is much more fa- vorable to the growth of Celery than that of our country, and every year new varie- ties are offered there, of which only now and then one proves of permanent value, but with the majority the differences are mainly in the name The following kinds, some of them of very recent introduction, are great improve- ments on the sorts grown a dozen years ago: Henderson's Golden Dwarf. (See figure 30.) This is now the, leading variety, not only around New York, but in nearly all parts of the country. In the great Celery-growing district of Kalamazoo, Michigan, it is the variety that is planted almost exclusively. In size and habit of growth it is much the same as the Half Dwarf and Dwarf White kinds, except that when blanched, the heart is of a waxy Fig. 36. HENDERSON'S GOLDEN DWARF CELEB?. 186 GARDENING FOR PKOFIT. golden yellow, rendering it a most attractive and showy variety for either market or private use. It is entirely solid, of excellent flavor, and one of the best keepers dur- ing winter. It originated with us from a chance seed- ling, about fifteen years ago. Fig. 37. WHITE PLUME CELERY, AS PUT UP FOR THE NEW YORK MARKET. White Plume, (See figure 37.) This variety presents characteristics so different from what we have been accus- tomed to find in Celery that it merits the rather extended description which follows. The peculiarity of the vari- ety is, that its stalk and portions of its inner leaves ai)d VEGKTABLES CELERY. 187 heart are naturally white, so that by closing the stalks, either by tying them up with matting or by simply drawing the soil up against the plant and pressing it together with the hands, and again drawing up the soil with the hoe or plow, so as to keep the soil that has been squeezed against the Celery in its place, the work of blanching is completed ; while it is well known that in all other varieties of Celery, in addition to this, the slow and troublesome process of "banking" or "earthing up " with a spade is necessary. Another merit of this variety is that it far excels any known* vegetable as an ornament for the table, the inner leaves being disposed somewhat like an ostrich feather, which suggested its name. It is also, we think, the earliest Celery in culti- vation, and when to all these valuable characteristics is added that its eating qualities are equal to the very best of the older sorts, being crisp, solid and possessing a rich, nutty flavor, it is but little wonder that the White Plume should have secured in so short a time a permanent place in cultivation. It should be stated, however, that this variety never whitens in a young state, and usually only begins to show its self blanching character when the growth begins in the cool weather. When I first sent out the White Plume Celery in 1884, I imagined from its having the stems and leaves white, that it would not keep in winter, and so stated, but, further trial has shown that it keeps nearly as well as any of the other kinds. Henderson's Half Dwarf, (See figure 38). Except the Golden Dwarf, this variety is now grown more ex- tensively than any other by the market gardeners who supply the New York markets, and is now found on the tables of all first-class hotels. When blanched it is a yellowish white, making it very ornamental for the table. It is entirely solid and possesses a rich, nutty flavor, while it has much vigor of growth, surpassing 188 GARDENING FOB PROFIT. most of the large growing sorts in weight of bunch when grown under the same conditions. Santiringham. Under good cultivation this variety attains a height of two feet and a cir- cumference of twelve inches. It is perfectly solid, the stalks half round, the leaves and stems being rather light green. When blanched it is a yellowish white, crisp, tender and of very fine flavor. The great advantage of this, as well as the other dwarf sorts, over the large kinds, is that nearly every part of the plant is fit to eat when blanched. For instance, if in the dwarf varieties the length is only two feet and in the large sorts three feet, the extra length of the large sort is unfit for use, being usually only an elongation of the outer leaves, the heart or edible part rarely rising more than eighteen inches in the large sorts, while the dwarf sorts may be said to be all heart. This variety in this section seems to have more tendency to blight or rust than any other kinds ; but where it can be grown with- Fig. 38. HENDERSON'S HALF out this difficulty, as it can be DWARF CELERY. j n such Boi i 8 as at Kalamazoo, Michigan, I think it has no equal. Boston Market, A great favorite around Boston and VEGETABLES CELERY. 189 similar to the Dwarf White, but rather more robust. The leaves are a darker green, the stalks when blanched are nearly white. It is an excellent variety, solid, crisp and tender. Giant White Solid, The best of the large growing sorts, attaining a height, under good cultivation, of three Fig. 39. CELEB TAC. feet. It should never be planted closer than four feet between the rows, or it cannot be properly worked. For southern sections of the country this variety is more suitable than the dwarf sorts, as it grows freer in a hot and dry atmosphere. Henderson's Rose. The superiority in flavor, as a rule, of the red or rose Celeries over the white sorts, is much better understood in England (where the majority of Celery grown is red), than with us. For some unexplained reason, the red Celeries have not sold 190 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. well in our markets. This cannot long be, however, as when once grown they will never be given up, not only for their superior flavor and crispness, but for their far better keeping qualities. This variety is one of the best I have ever seen. Major Clark's Pink. Another excellent variety among the red sorts. It is of medium growth, stiff, close habit, large heart, solid, crisp and of fine walnut flavor. CELERIAC, OR TURNIP-SOOTED CELERY. (Apium graveolens. Far.) This, figure 39, is grown from seeds sown in the same manner, and planted out at the same times as directed for Celery ; but as it requires but a slight earthing up, it is planted closer than ordinary Celery ; eight- een inches between the rows and six inches be- tween the plants. It is preserved for winter use in shallow trenches, and covered up as the season advances, as directed for Celery. It is as yet grown to but a limited extent here, being used only by the French and Germans. The turnip- like root is cooked, or it is sliced and used with vinegar, making a most excellent salad. Dwarf Apple Shaped, (See figure 40). This com- paratively new variety is now the main kind grown. Fig. 40. DWARF ^PPLE-SHAPED CELERIC. VEGETABLES CHIVES CORN SALAD CRESS. 191 CHIVES. (Allium Sclcenoprasum.) A small bulbous-rooted plant of the Onion tribe, en- tirely hardy and of the easiest culture, as it will grow on almost any soil for many years without renewal. It is propagated by division of the root, and may be planted at nine or ten inches apart ; the leaves are the parts used, which may be repeatedly shorn off during the early summer months. They are sometimes used in soups, but more generally in the raw state. CORN SALAD, OR FETTICTIS. (Fedia olitoria.) A vegetable used as a salad and sold to a considerable extent in our markets. It is sown on the first opening of spring in rows one foot apart, and is fit for use in six or eight weeks from time of sowing. If wanted to come in early in spring it is sown in September, covered up with straw or hay as soon as cold weather sets in, and is wintered over exactly as Spinach. The covering is re- moved in March or April when it starts to grow, and is one of our first green vegetables in spring. It is also grown to a large extent by the German gardeners on New York Island in cold frames. CRESS, OR PEPPER GRASS. (Lcpidium sativum.) Another early spring vegetable, used as a salad, and of easy culture. It is sown in early spring in rows one foot apart ; as it runs quickly to seed, succession sowings should be made every eight or ten days. There are sev- eral varieties, but the kind in general use is the Curled, which 13 used for garnishing as well as for salads. 192 GARDENING FOS PROFIT. CRESS W A.TIH!i, (Nasturtium ojficinale.) This is a well-known hardy perennial aquatic plant, growing abundantly along the margins of running streams, ditches and ponds, and sold in immense quanti- ties in our markets in spring. Where it does not grow naturally, it is easily introduced by planting along the margins of ponds or streams, where it quickly increases, both by spreading of the root and by seeding. Many a farmer in the vicinity of New York realizes more profit from the Water Cresses, cut from the margin of a brook running through his farm in two or three weeks in spring, than from his whole year's hard labor in growing Corn, Hay or Potatoes. Water Cress can be best cultivated in places where the streams run through a level tract. Supposing the stream to be a foot deep on an average, and six or eight feet wide, running through a meadow, a good plan for culti- vation is to make excavations laterally, say in beds five feet wide (with five foot alleys between), to a depth of about eight inches, or deep enough to be flooded by the stream when it is of average height, or when shallow, by damming it up so as to flood the beds. The advantage of having the beds excavated at right angles to the stream rather than parallel with it is, that in the event of freshets the crop is less liable to be washed away. The length and number of the beds excavated must, of course, be determined by circumstances. Water Cress seeds germinate freely in earth when kept saturated ; hence the beds, when properly levelled and pulverized by digging and raking, should be slightly flooded enough to only saturate the soil until the seeds germinate, for, of course, if the beds were filled up with water, the seeds would be washed off. After the seed- lings have started so as to show green, the water may be gradually let on as they develop. The best time of sowing the seed for the latitude of VEGETABLES CRESS. 193 New York, for spring, is about the middle of April ; for fall, about the middle of August. I advocate that seeds of all plants of this description should be sown in rows a foot or so apart, as the seed is small and germinates freely, so that three or four pounds will be enough for an acre. It should be cultivated exactly as Spinach is. When Water Cress is found growing naturally, the beds can be made by setting the plants six or twelve inches apart each way. When the cultivation is once fairly be- gun, there is no difficulty about forming new beds, as few plants grow more rapidly when proper conditions are present. After the crop is planted or sown, in two months it will have spread all over the beds. The streams being full in autumn, the beds will be fully flooded so as to protect the plants during winter. It is always found growing best wild, in clear, shallow, slowly-running water, with a sandy or gravelly bottom ; and as nature is always the surest guide to successful cultivation, the nearer it can be imitated the better the success. I find it is one of. the plants the culture of which is not very easy to give by writing, as so much must be de- termined by the circumstances of locality. Wherever a suitable stream is at command, the experiment of growing Water Cress is worthy of trial, especially when we know that it in many cases pays, for a given area, six or eight times more than any other vegetable cultivated, provided it can be sold in the markets of New York or Philadelphia. It is usually sold in baskets containing about three quarts, which sell, when first in market, at fifty cents each ; 200 or 300 such are carried in an ordinary wagon, so that from a single load of this simple vegetable, $100 to $200 are realized. The Water Cress has a particularly pleasant pungent taste, agreeable to most people in early spring. 194 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. It is said that when Sir Joseph Banks first arrived in England after his voyage around the world, among the first things he asked for were Water Cresses, well know- ing their value as a purifier of the blood ; and that he afterwards presented one of the largest Water Cress growers for the London market, a Banksian Medal, for energy shown in the business, believing that while he had benefited himself he had benefited the community. I have no doubt whatever that in situations where irri- gation could be used at pleasure, and regular planta- tions made, as for Cranberries, that, grown in this way, judging from the enormous price it sells at, picked up as it is in the present hap-hazard way, at present prices, an acre would sell for $1,000 to $2,000. To give some idea of the immense quantities of Water Cress sold about some of the cities in Europe, we may state that a recent number of "Covent Garden Gazette" states that Water Cresses to the value of 60,000 are annually consumed in Paris, and in London to the extent of 30,000 annually. UPLAND CEESS. (Barbarea vulgaris.) This has recently been introduced as a new vegetable by a Mr. Beyer, of Iowa, and Mr. Beyer may be well par- doned for believing it to be new, for he says that he is informed by the largest seed firm in Paris in a letter written in 1885, that in their belief it is " new in France." Now, it is not " new," but a very old plant, as I well remember it in my 'prentice days, when it was grown as Spinach, and used exactly as Water Cress. In fact, it so much resembles Water Cress in taste that the difference is scarcely discernible, and the wonder is that its use has not become more general, as it is of as easy VEGETABLES COLIARDS CORN". 195 culture as Spinach ; indeed, easier, for it is a perennial plant, and can be grown easily for two years without re- sowing, and it yields enormous crops. The seed should be sown in April, in rows twelve to fifteen inches apart, and Mr. Beyer, who has been experimenting with it in the climate of Iowa, says it has stood a temperature of five degrees below zero, and still keeping green. He believes that its great value as a salad will soon be ap- preciated here, and, besides, as cattle eat it greedily, it may, in some sections, prove a valuable forage plant. COLLARDS (SOUTHERN). (Brassica oleracea. Far.) Most of the Collards, as grown in this section, are nothing more than sowings of any early variety of Cab- bage in rows about one foot apart, which are cut off for use when six or eight inches high. The Southern Col- lard is a distinct variety of vigorous growth, attaining a height of five or six feet, and grown in portions of the South where the ordinary kinds of Cabbage fail to head. Spring sowings may be made every two weeks at two feet apart from February to May ; and in fall from Septem- ber as late as the season will admit. COSN. (Zea Mays.) The varieties known as "Sweet" are the sorts most cultivated for culinary use in the green state. It may be either sown in rows four and a half feet apart, and the seeds planted at eight or nine inches in the rows, or planted in hills at distances of three or four feet each way, according to the variety grown or the richness of the soil in which it is planted. The taller the variety or richer the soil, the greater should be .the distance apart. 106 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. The soil best suited for Corn for an early crop is a W3ll enriched sandy loam. The planting should never be done until the weather is settled and warm, as heat is indispensable to the healthy growth of Corn. We make our first plantings in this vicinity about the middle of May, and continue succession plantings every two or three weeks until the first week in July, which date, in this latitude, is the latest at which we can plant and be sure of a crop of "roasting ears." In more southerly latitudes planting is begun a month earlier and con- tinued a month later. The crop is hardly profitable enough for the market gardener where land is high in price, but the farmers realize double the price for Sweet Corn when sold m the green state in our markets, that they do for Ripe Corn, besides, as the ground can be cleared when the ears are thus sold in August, it can be used afterwards for Turnips. About twenty years ago I came into possession, about the 1st of May, of a four-acre plot that had lain for many years in sod. It was then too late to be able to break it up for planting any of the finer kinds of vege- tables, so I decided to plant it with Sweet Corn. Ac- cordingly, I had the sod plowed over flat in such a manner as would best rot it. I was careful to have the furrows straight, and at every five feet where they lapped together I dropped Sweet Corn at four or five inches apart, so that when it started to grow it stood in regular lines five feet distant. The Corn was planted about May 30th, and hoed around the line as it grew, the space between being run over by the harrow cultivator. By the middle of June, from the action of the cultivator, the space between the rows of Corn was in fine friable condition, and Celery was planted in double rows, ten inches apart. The shade given by the Corn was of no injury to the Celery at this early stage of its growth, and as the Corn crop was sold and the stalks were cleared off VEGETABLES COltN. 197 by the middle of August, the growth of the Celery was not in the slightest impaired. The whole transaction was quite satisfactory ; the Corn crop sold (green), for about $600, or $150 per acre ; the Celery at about $400 per acre, which was exceedingly low, not much more than one cent per root for every root planted ; in some subsequent years the price would have doubled that for the same quantity. Xo fertilizer . was used, except a slight sprinkling of bone dust for the Celery. A profit now of from $50 to $75 is usually realized per acre from Sweet Corn. The best varieties now are : Early Marblchead, (See figure 41.) Certainly as early, if not a little earlier, than any of the other sorts of Sweet Corn. In appearance it resembles the better known Early Narragansett. The stalk is dwarf and it sets its ears very low down, which are of fair market- able size. Cory, Squally early as the preceding, and said to be larger in size. Early Minnesota. (See figure 42.) Very early and desirable alike in the market and family garden. Height of stalk, four and a half feet ; ears of fair size and good quality. Crosby's Early Sugar, Early, and a great favorite in the markets of all large cities. Ears rather small but productive, and of excellent quality. Henderson, This variety is of medium earliness rind is valued alike in the market and family garden, or for canning purposes, for which latter use enormous areus of it are now grown. The ears are twelve rowed, straight and handsome ; quality of the very best. Squantum Sugar, One of the sweetest and most valued varieties I know of. It is rather early and won- derfully productive. Rows irregular, but setting four and five ears on a stalk. 198 GARDENING FOR PilOFIT. Egyptian. The ears of this variety are of large size, the flavor peculiarly rich and sweet. It is grown in equally large quantities for both canning and for selling in the green state. Like all the other large varieties, it matures late perhaps the best late sort. StO well's Evergreen. (See figure 43. ) Now recognized Fig. 41. MARBLE- Fig. 43. MINNESOTA HEAD CORN. COKN. Fig, 43. STOWELL'S EVERGREEN CORN. everywhere as the standard late variety, and having the peculiarity of remaining longer in the green state than most other sorts. Mammoth Sugar, A late variety and a sort that pro- VEGETABLES CUCUMBER. 199 duces ears of very large size and fine flavor. It is un- usually productive, and is the variety almost exclusively grown by New York market gardeners for their late crop. CUCUMBER,. (Cucumis sativus.) The growing of the Cucumber out-of-doors is, in most places, attended with a great deal of annoyance and loss, occasioned by the attacks of the "Striped Bug." When the seed is sown in the open ground, repeated sow- ings are often utterly destroyed by this pest, despite all remedies. To avoid this, and at the same time to forward the crop at least a week, we have long adopted the following method with the greatest success : About the middle of May (for this section), we cut from a pas- ture lot, sods two to three inches thick ; these are placed with the grassy side down, either on the benches of our forcing-house, in an exhausted hot-bed, or inside of a cold frame ; at that season of the year any one of these will do as well as another. The sods being fitter! together neatly so that all crevices are filled up, they are then cut into squares about three or four inches in length and breadth ; on each of these are planted two or three seeds of Cucumber, and over the whole is sifted about half an inch of covering of some fine rich mold. They are then sprinkled thoroughly from a rose watering- pot, and the sashes put on and kept closed until the seeds begin to germinate, which will be in three or four days. As soon as they are up, the sashes must be raised to admit air, else the sun's rays, acting on the glass, would raise the temperature too high ; at that season of the year the sashes, as a rule, may be tilted up at eight or nine o'clock in the morning, and shut down by three or four o'clock in the afternoon. By the time the Cu- 200 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. cumber plants have attained two or three of their rough leaves, which will be in about three weeks from the time of sowing, they are planted out in the open ground in hills three feet apart each way. The hills should have been previously prepared, by mixing thoroughly with the coil in each, a shovelful of well-rotted manure. It is always better to plant in the afternoon rather than during the early part of the day, as the coolness and moisture at night enable the plants to recuperate from the effects of removal. If the weather is hot and dry, it is safer to give each hill a thorough watering ones, imme- diately after planting. I have recommended sods in preference to flower-pots for starting the Cucumbers, inasmuch as they are not only procurable in all places, but our experience sliDws that the sod is even better than the flower-pot ; it better retains moisture, and there is a freshness about sod in which the roots of all plants love to revel, and which no composts we can prepare can ever equal. It will be seen that the expense of growing Cucumbers in this manner is considerable ; to grow enough for an acre about 5,000 hills it will require the use of twenty three by six foot sashes, and the preparation of the sods and attention in airing, etc., until they are fit to plant, will involve ten times more expense than simply sowing the seed in the hills ; but all such expenditures are well returned, for it is safe to say that the profits would always be at least three times more by this plan than by the other. The average receipts are $500 per acre, working expenses probably $250, and the crop is off in time for Turnips or Spinach as a second crop. The Cucumber is a vegetable perhaps better fitted than any other for Southern market gardeners. There is no doubt that by the forwarding process above described, it could be had in marketable condition in the neighborhood of Charleston or Savannah, at least a month before it t VEGETABLES CUCUMBER. 201 could in New York, and as it is one of the easiest things we have to ship, a profitable business could be made of growing it to send North. The profits on an acre of Cu- cumbers grown by this method in Charleston, and sold in New York in June, would, I think, exceed the aver- age profits of twenty-five acres of Cotton. For forward- ing under glass see "Forcing Cucumbers," on page 79. Cucumbers are also extensively raised for pickling, hundreds of acres being grown for this purpose in the vicinity of New York, especially in Westchester County. Sod or stubble land, plowed in early fall, and again turned over twice or thrice in spring, is the condition of soil usually chosen. The ground is marked out as for Corn, four feet each way, and a good shovelful of well-rotted manure, dug in at the tingle which forms the hill ; the seed is sown about a dozen in each hill usually about the 20th of June, but equally good crops can be obtained by sowings made as late as the middle of July. The average price of late years has been $1.50 per 1,000, and the number grown per acre on properly culti- vated lands is 150,000, which is $225 gross receipts per acre. The expense of raising is said to be about one- half. These profits would not satisfy the market gardener on his few valuable acres near the city, but, no doubt, are remunerative enough to the farmers with large quanti- ties of cheap land. The varieties are numerous and embrace many very well marked kinds. The large growing kinds that attain two feet or more in length have never become favorites in our American markets. Improved White Spine, (See figure 44.) This, a favor- ite market variety, belongs to the section of short Cucum- bers, producing fruit of medium size, from six to eight inches in length, and two to three inches in diameter. It is a handsome fruit, deep green in flesh, crisp, and of 202 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. fine flavor. This is one of the varieties grown for forcing. IVichoPs Medium Green. This new variety is excellent as a. pickle sort, and for forcing there is none better. It is very productive, of medium size, and always straight and smooth. Color, dark green ; flesh, crisp and tender. Fig. 44. IMPROVED WHITE SPINE CUCUMBER. Early Cluster, A much esteemed early variety, grow- ing in clusters and extremely productive. Its color is bluish green, shading lighter at the extremities. Early Russian, (See figure 45.) This is the earliest variety, coming into use about ten days before the Early Fig. 45. EARLY RUSSIAN CUCUMBER. Fig. 46. --WEST INDIAN GHERKIN OR BURR CUCUMBER. Cluster, which it resembles in some respects, but is smaller and shorter. The fruit is generally produced in pairs, and is from three to four inches long, hardy, pro- ductive and fine flavored. One of the best varieties for private gardens. VEGETABLES EGG PLAXT. 203 Green Prolific, As a pickle variety it is unsurpassed. Its characteristics are its very uniform growth, hardly ever yielding Cucumbers too large for pickling, and its immense productiveness. Tailby's Hybrid. Dark green and glossy in color, good yielder and fine flavor; resembles the English forcing varieties, with one of which it is a cross. West India Gherkin or Burr. (See figure 46.) This variety, which is exclusively grown for pickling, is a spe- cies distinct from the common Cucumber (Oucumis An- guria). It is very small, length from two to three inches, a strong growing sort, and should be planted five feet apart. EGG PLANT. (Solatium Melongena.) The cultivation of the Egg Plant, fiom its extreme tenderness, is, in its early stage, attended perhaps with more trouble than any vegetable of our gardens. A na- tive of Tropical America, it at all times requires a high temperature. For this reason, in this latitude, the seeds should not be sown in the hot-bed until the first week in April ; even then a steady bottom heat is necessary to a healthy development, and there should be a warm cov- ering at night over the sashes. I have always found that with tender plants of this kind, nothing was gained by starting early, even though by great care the plants are carried through the cold season. By the time they can be planted in the open ground, about June 1st, those started the 1st of March would be no larger than those started 1st of April, besides being harder both in roots and leaves, in which condition they are far inferior to the younger plants that have been raised with less than half the labor. A correspondent from an inland town writes that, for the first time, the Egg Plant has been grown in his sec- 204 GARDENING FOE PROFIT. tion this season, and that it has been a wonder to the good people of that place, and they wish for more light on its culture and uses. This gentleman says that the earliest and best fruit is produced on the plants last set out (June 10th), and seems to wonder that such should be the case. His experience here teaches a forcible lesson on tho subject that we so often dwell upon, cautioning against the sowing or planting of tender kinds, such as Tomato, Egg Plant, Cucumber or Melon, too early. In the lati- tude of New York, Egg Plants should never be sown in hot-beds sooner than April 20th, the temperature of the hot-bed to be not less than seventy degrees at night. The plant at no season of its growth should be kept for any length of time at a lower average temperature than seventy degrees. The experiment of my correspondent demonstrated that his plants,. planted in open air on May 19th, were inferior to those set out on June 10th. Egg Plants, when they first germinate, are very sensitive to damp and to being chilled, and the amateur often fails to raise them, even with his hot-bed. But as they are now grown in all large towns, those wishing to try them, and not having the proper means of raising the plants, can pro- cure them at trifling expense from the market gardeners or florists of their nearest town. The soil in which they fruit best is a light, sandy loam, well enriched by decayed stable manure. The Egg Fruit is fit for use from the time it is the size of a turkey's egg until it is full grown, say five inches in diameter ; but it is not so good when the seeds become hard, and indicate an appearance of ripening. The soil in which Egg Plants are to be grown can hardly be too rich, for it is a plant that will generally repay good treatment. They are planted from two to three feet apart, according to the degree of richness of VEGETABLES EGG I'LAXT. 205 soil ; in the fertile market gardens never less than three feet. Although their sale is comparatively limited, yet, from the difficulties often experienced in raising the plants, all that arc offered are sold at good prices ; the average is about $1 per dozen, each plant producing six to nine full-sized fruit. It is more important with this vegetable to select the proper variety for growing than with any other that I know ; for that reason we are Fig'. 47. NEW YORK IMPROVED EGG PLANT. Fig. 48. BLACK PEKIW EGG PLANT. chary of touching any other sorts for market purposes than the "New York Improved" and "Black Pekin." New York Improved, (See figure 47.) This is or.r leading market variety, and is readily distinguishable from either the Large Round or Long Purple varieties in the plant being more robust in all its parts, the leaves and stems also being thickly studded with spines, which are not found to any great extent on the other varieties. A productive and excellent variety. 06 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. Long Purple, Different in shape from the foregoing; sometimes deep purple, and again pale, with white or yellowish stripes. Early, productive, and of easy cul- ture. Black Pekin, (See figure 48.) A comparatively new variety of superior excellence ; fruit glossy, deep purple, almost black, of globular form and very solid. It is earlier and more productive than the New York Im- proved, and much superior in flavor, and is now selling rather better in our New York markets. White-fruited Egg- Plant, Similar in growth to the Long Purple, but the fruit is larger, and of an ivory white- ness. It is good when cooked, but much less productive, and, like the Scarlet, which is almost identical except in color, is grown more for curiosity and ornament. ENDIVE. (Cichorium Endivia.) The cultivation of this vegetable for market purposes is not yet extensive, it being used by few except our Ger- man and French population. It is, however, offered now by the wagon load, where a few years ago a few basketf uls would have supplied all the demand. Like all other vegetables that are grown in limited quantities, it com- mands a high price, and the few who do raise it find it very profitable. Like Lettuce, it may be sown at any time, from early spring until August, and perfect its crop the season of sowing. As it is used almost exclusively in the fall months, the main sowings are made in June and July, from which plantations are formed, at one foot apart each way, in August and September. It requires no special soil or manure, and, after planting, it is kept clear of weeds by hoeing and weeding, until the plant has attained its full size, when the process of blanching begins ; for it VEGETABLES ENDIVE. 20? is never used except when blanched, as it is harsh and bitter in the green state. Blanching is effected by gathering up the leaves, and tying them up by their tips in a conical form, with bass matting. This excludes the light and air from the inner leaves, which, in the course of three to six weeks, according to the temperature at the time, become blanched. Another method of blanching is much simpler and quicker, and is the one mostly practiced by those who grow Endive for market ; it consists simply in covering Fig. 4'J. GREEN CURLED ENDIVE. up the plants as they grow, with slates or boards, which serves the same purpose, by excluding the light, as the tying up. The average price during the months of October, November and December is fifty cents per dozen. The best sorts are the following : Green Curled, (See figure 49.) This is not only one of the most useful as a salad, but is highly ornamental from its delicately cut and curled leaves ; it is much used for garnishing. Moss Curled. This variety is now common, and is being extensively cultivated. From the density of the foliage ; the plant is heavier than the Green Curled, is 208 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. equally agreeable as a salad, and its appearance, either green or blanched, is particularly handsome, and is now being much used for garnishing in our best hotels. Broad-leaved Ratavian. A loose growing variety, forming but little heart. As with this blanching can only be accomplished by tying up, it is not so desirable as either of the preceding. GAELIC. -- (Attiu m sativum.) Another vegetable used mostly by foreigners. It is of the easiest culture, growing freely on any soil suitable for onions. It is propagated by divisions of. the bulb, called "cloves" or "sets." These are planted in early spring, in rows one foot apart, and from four to six inches between the plants in the rows. The crop matures in August, when it is harvested like the Onion. It is always sold in the dry state. HORSERADISH. (Nasturtium Armoracia.) This root is an important crop, upwards of five hundred acres of it being grown in the vicinity of New York alone, and for the last twenty years there has been nothing grown from which we have realized more profit as a second crop. It is always grown as a second crop in the following manner : In preparing- the roots for market during winter, all the small rootlets are broken off and reserved for plant- ing, leaving nothing but the main root, which is usually from twelve to fifteen inches long, and weighing about three-quarters of a pound. The rootlets, or sets, are cuj: into pieces of from four to six inches in length, from VEGETABLES HORSERADISH. 209 one-quarter to one-half an inch in diameter ; these are tied in bundles of from fifty to sixty, the top end being cut square and the bottom end slanting (see figure 50), so that in planting there will be no danger of setting the root upside down ; for although it would grow if planted thus, it would not make a handsome root. The sets, when prepared, are stowed away in boxes of sand, care being taken that a sufficiency of sand is pat between Fjg 5a _ SOKSERADISH SEI _ each layer of bundles to prevent their heating. They may either be kept in the boxes in a cool cellar, or jitted in the open ground, as may be most convenient. We prefer the open ground, when the weather will permit. I have said that Horseradish is always cultivated as a second crop. With us, it usually succeeds our Early Cabbage, Cauliflower or Beets. Thus we plant Early Cabbage, lining out the ground with the one-foot marker ; on every alternate line are first planted Early Cabbages, which stand, when planted, at two feet between the rows and sixteen or eighteen inches between the plants. We always finish our entire planting before we put in the Horseradish, which delays it generally to about 1st of May. It is then planted between the rows of Cabbage, and at about the same distance as the - Cabbage is in the rows, giving about 13,000 or 13,000 plants per acre. The planting is performed by making a hole about eight or ten inches deep with a long planting stick or light crowbar, into which is dropped the Horseradish set, so that its top will be two or three inches under the sur- face ; if the sets should be longer the hole should be made proportionally deep, so that the top of the set is not nearer the surface- than two or three inches ; the earth is pressed in alongside the set, so as to fill up the hole, as in ordinary planting. 210 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. The main reason for planting the set so far under the surface is to delay its coming up until the crop of Cab- bage be cleared off. The Horseradish makes its main growth in the fall, so that it is no injury to it to keep it from growing until July; in fact, it often happens that by being planted too near the surface, or too early, it starts to grow so as to interfere with the Cabbage crop; in such cases, we have often to cut the tops off twice with the hoe before the Cabbage is ready, but this does not injure it in the least. It is a crop with which there is very little labor during summer ; after the Cabbage has been cut off, the Horse- radish is allowed to grow at will, and as it quickly covers the ground, one good deep stirring by hoe or cultivator is all that is required aftei digging out the Cabbage stumps. When grown between Early Beets the culture is, in all respects, the same, only it is more profitable to have the rows of Beets only eighteen inches apart ; this, of course, throws the Horseradish nearer, so that when grown be- tween Beets it should be planted at the distance of two feet between the plants in the rows, making about the same number of plants per acre as when planted between early Cabbages. As it is an entirely hardy plant, it /s one of the last roots we dig up in fall, it being usually delayed until December. After digging^ the small roots are usually broken off in the field and stowed away in boxes, so that they can be trimmed under cover at leisure. The main root is then put away in the pits, as recommended in Winter Preservation of Vegetables, so that it can be got at as required during winter. The preparation for market is very simple, being merely to cut off the green tops and small rootlets, leaving the main root only, as represented, in reduced size, by figure 51. It is sold by weight, and is generally washed, which is done suffi- VEGETABLES HORSERADISH, ciently by rinsing a quantity of it together in a large tub. Our manner of growing Horseradish in this district, we claim to be a great advance on the methods generally practised. All American writers on the subject that I have seen, follow in the same track, and recommend planting the croivns. This would not only destroy the most salable part of the root, but when planted thus, the crowns will produce only a sprawling lot of root- lets that are utterly unsalable in the market. They also tell us that " after two seasons growth the roots will be fit for use." Now, my experience in grow- ing this root has most emphatically told me that, after two seasons growth, it is entirely unfit for use, or at least unfit for sale, which I suppose is about the same thing. Twenty years ago, one of my neighbors had a patch of about two acres, which from some cause or other he had neglected to have dug until late in spring, and concluded, as it was then rather late to sell it, he would leave it to grow over until next season. On commencing to dig it the next fall, he found that the main root, instead of being solid, as it is at one one year old, had become par- tially hollow and of a woody, stringy nature, and when offered to manufacturers it was refused at any 'price. So there was no help for it but to dig up and throw away his entirely worthless crop at a most unusual expense, as its two year's growth had massed the whole soil with roots. This experiment of my neighbor was a loss to him of certainly not less than $1,500, as the price then was higher than now. Grown in the deep rich soil of our market gardens, \ 51. HORSE- RADISH. 212 GARDEXItfG FOR PROFIT. Horseradish has been for the past thirty years, one of our most profitable second crops, and as an encourage- ment to beginners, I will state that the prico has still kept sufficiently high to make it a fairly profitable crop. Our average weight per acre is five tons, or a little over three-quarters of a pound per root for 12,000 planted. Its average price is now about $100 per ton. But there is one thing to be remembered : these heavy crops are only obtained in our gardens that are in the highest state of culture ; no ordinary farm land, the first season, manure it as you might, will produce such results. KOHLRABI, OB TURNIP-ROOTED CABBAGE. (Brassica oleracea. Far.) In general appearance, this vegetable more resembles a Kuta Baga Turnip than a Cabbage, though it is more generally classed with the lat- ter. It is best cultivated by sowing the seeds in rows in May, June, or July, according to latitude. In this district we sow throughout June, for suc- cession in rows eighteen inches apart, thinning out to about eight or ten inches between the plants. It is rather difficult to transplant, and we generally prefer to sow the whole crop from seed, and thin out where it stands ; although when the weather is suitable, the thin- nings may be planted at the distances above named. It is sold in our markets in fall in the green state in bunches containing three roots, at an average price of Fig. 52. KOHLRABI. VEGETABLES KOHLRABI LEEK. 213 seventy-five cents per dozen bunches. As it is not in general use, its sale is limited. The varieties mostly cultivated are : Early White Vienna, This is greenish-white outside ; flesh white and tender while young. The best condition for use is when the root is from three to four inches in diameter ; if younger it partakes too much of the taste of the Cabbage, 'and when older it is dry and stringy. The best market sort. Early Purple Vienna, Almost identical with the preceding, except in color, which is a bluish-purple. LEEK, (Allium Porrum.) The Leek is another vegetable that is exclusively grown as a second crop. The seed is sown in April in rows one foot apart in ground well prepared, as recom- mended for the Celery seed-bed ; and, like all seed-beds, it is kept scrupulously clear of weeds. The best time of planting is the same as that for all our second crops during July, or as soon as the first or spring crop can be. cleared on . The ground can hardly be too rich for Leeks, and, when time will allow, we always contrive to get in a slight additional coat of manure for this crop ; the spring dressing, large as it always is, hardly being sufficient. The ground being well prepared by plowing and harrowing, lines are marked out by the marker at one foot apart, and the Leeks planted on each line at five or six inches apart ; we do not earth up, but instead plant rather deeply. As it is a plant the foliage of which is but little spreading, great care must be taken that weeds arc never allowed to get ahead, for if they do, they may soon entirely envelop the crop to its total destruction. 214 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. It is a vegetable used mostly in winter and spring, and requires to be dug up, in this vicinity, in November, as otherwise it would be injured by our severe winters, but in milder sections, it is better left standing where it grew. It is quite a hardy vegetable, so that twenty or twenty-five degrees below freezing will not injure it. It is preserved by the market gardeners here in trenches, exactly as Celery is preserved (see Chapter on Celery.) Large quantities are sold in our Northern markets at fairly remunera- tive rates, although, from the nature of the plant, it requires perhaps more labor than any other vegetable to prepare it for market. Figure 53 represents the Musselburgh Leek, trimmed previous to being bunched up for market. From six to eight roots are tied in each bunch, which bring in the market upon an average, throughout the season, about fifty cents per dozen bunches. We plant about 85,000 plants on an acre. The two varieties used are known as Musselburgh and London Flag. The former is rather preferred in market, being usually larger, but there is but little choice be- tween them. Fig. 53. MUSSELBURGH LEEK. LETTUCE. {Lactuca sativa.) Perhaps there is no plant of the garden that we could so ill afford to dispense with as Lettuce. Its cultivation is universal by all classes, and from its tractable nature and freedom from nearly all insects and diseases, it is manageable in the hands of every one. In a well-ap- VEGETABLES LETTUCE. 215 pointed market garden it is the most important vegetable cultivated, engaging our attention throughout the entire year, either in the open ground in summer, in forcing houses or hot-beds in winter, or in cold frames in spring. As our mode of growing it under glass is sufficiently described in treating of pits, frames, etc., I will in this place confine myself to our system of cultivating it out of doors. For our main early crop, that is sold from the open ground in the latter part of May or first of June, the seed is sown the previous season in the open ground, from the 15th to 25th of September. These plants are usually large enough to be planted in frames four or five weeks later, as recommended for Cabbage plants ; about 600 or 700 are planted under a three by six sash. Occasionally we sow seed thinly in the frame in fall and do not transplant them, as it saves a great amount of labor, but they are not quite so good plants as those trans- planted, as it is difficult to sow them so that they come up at the regular degree of thickness. The winter treat- ment of Lettuce plants in every way similar to that described for Cabbage plants. In dry, well-sheltered spots, by covering up with leaves or litter, late in the season, say middle of December, Lettuce plants, par- ticularly of the more hardy kinds, such as Boston Mar- ket and Butter, may be saved over winter without glass covering, in southern parts of the country without dif- ficulty. Like most plants that we term hardy, twenty degrees of frost will not injure them. The plants for setting out in spring are also sown in cold frames in February, and in hot-beds in March. (See Chapter on " Spring Eaising of Cabbage, Cauliflower and Let- tuce.") To economize not only in space, but in manure, we make every foot of our gardens available, so that when we come to plant out our Lettuce in March or April, instead of setting it in a bed exclusively for 216 GARDENING FOR PiiOFIT. itself, it is planted at the same time and between the rows of Early Cabbage or Cauliflower, which are set at two feet apart. The Lettuce matures its crop in half the time that it takes for the Cabbage, and is conse- quently all cut off and marketed before the Cabbage is half grown. If it were not so, they could not be both grown at once on the same ground, for, when the Cab- bage crop attains its growth, it requires the full space allowed two feet for its development. This early crop of Lettuce from the open ground is considered rather an auxiliary than a main one ; it meets with a rapid sale at an average of $1.50 per 100 heads. Rather a low price, it may be thought ; but growers hav- ing only ten acres of ground not unirequently plant over 100,000 heads. It is planted somewhat closer than Cab- bage, usually about 15,000 per acre. For succession crops of Lettuce, sowings may be made in the open ground as early as spring opens until July. "When not planted between Cabbage, they are set at one foot apart each way. They are sold to some extent throughout the whole summer, but the great weight of the crop is sold about the first week of June in New York markets. The summer price of Lettuce is very variable, as the supply is often irregular ; it may average $2 per 100. The passenger in Elevated Railroad cars going from Sixtieth Street to Harlem, on New York Island, may yet see, any day from June to October, little patches of vege- tation of different shades of green, ranged in uniform and regular lines. These are the " salad patches, "culti- vated mainly by German market gardeners ; they range from two acres down to a quarter of an acre in area. It seems a wonder that the cultivation of such a small plot of earth should give an able-bodied man a living ; but a liv- ing it does give in nearly all cases, and some have quite a respectable surplus for a "rainy day." VEGETABLES LETTUCE. 217 The manner of growing the Lettuce for the first or early crop, is the same as that practiced by the market gardeners of New Jersey or Long Island, namely, using plants from seed sown in fall that have been wintered over under sashes, and planted out as early as the ground is fit to work, which, in these warm nooks (in most cases at the base of rocky elevations), is often as early as the first week in March. In some particularly favored spots the Lettuce is planted out in the first week of October, and, if it remains unscathed during winter, comes in in such fine condition for market in May as to well repay the risk. The variety used for this purpose is the " Brown Dutch." In any section of the country where the thermometer never falls lower than ten degrees above zero, Lettuce sown the first week in September and planted out the first week of October in sheltered spots in dry soils, will be almost certain to " winter over," and give a crop in spring earlier than if treated by any other method. A plan of recent introduction for the summer growing of Lettuce, is to mark out lines one foot each way across the bed, and at the intersection of the lines six or eight seeds are planted, pressed down and slightly covered. These in the summer months germinate in a few days. When the plants are an inch or so high, they are all taken out but one plant. This is a quicker and better plan than planting in hot summer weather, as the Lettuce plant at that season is somewhat difficult to transplant. Succession sowings- should be made every two or three weeks. To return to the New York City growers. The varieties grown under glass and first planted out in spring are usually the "Butter" and "Curled Simpson," both white and black seeded. As soon as the crop is planted out, sowings are made for a succession ; this time of the " Salamander" and the " New York," the "Simpson ;? 218 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. being unfitted for. the warm weather at which this sowing would mature. The crop planted out in March, matures by the end of May or 1st of June, and as soon as it is cut off, the ground is plowed or dug over, and the plants from the March sowings are set. Another sowing is made for plants to succeed these again, and so on during the entire season, the rule being to sow seed at each time of plant- ing. Four crops of Lettuce are usually taken from June to October, or nearly a crop each month. The plants are set about a foot apart each way, and will average one cent per head, so that the four crops give a return of nearly $2,000 per acre. This seems like an immense return for an acre, but though the net profits are respectable, there are some serious disadvantages attending the cultivation. Few, or none, of these men are owners of the land in New York City, nor in hardly any instance have they a lease. They are tenants at will, and pay a yearly rental, in some instances, of $250 per acre. Many of our country readers may think that an extra cipher has been added to the amount, but they must recollect that the value of some of these " salad patches," as they are called, is $8,000 per city lot, or over $100,000 per acre, so that the paltry rental of $250 per acre hardly pays the interest on the amount of taxes. The following figures were given me by one of the best and largest grow- ers, whose patch was two acres : Kent.- .-..$4-00 Manure 250 Labor of three men for six months 750 Horse keep and incidentals ... . - 450 81,850 Four crops Lettuce, estimated at $4,000 Expenditures - 1,850 Annual profits for two acres $2,150 This was in 1874 ; it is probable that now the profits would be quite one-third less. VEGETABLES LETTUCE. 219 A pretty good profit, but deservedly earned, for to attain this result the grower works early and late. It must not be supposed that five acres could be cultivated by one man with the above profit. The loss from inade- quate hired labor, and the difficulties of selling large quantities of a quickly perishable crop, would be likely to make the attempt to largely increase the area culti- vated a failure. Besides, Lettuce is only used to a lim- ited extent in the summer and fall months, and if grown in the quantities that it is in spring, could not be sold, yet in all large cities it is used more or less at all seasons, and commands, for limited quantities, usually a higher price than in spring, the season of its greatest consump- tion. No doubt the system of our New York City Let- tuce growers might be successfully and profitably followed in the neighborhood of many other cities and large towns. The varieties of Lettuce used for the different purposes of forwarding and forcing, and for out-door culture in spring and summer, are of more importance than with most vegetables. I once lost almost my entire crop of Frame Lettuce, from planting the Curled India, a summer variety, instead of the Curled Simp- Fi s- ^.-EARLY C.-RLED SIMPSON i T T i -i , LETTUCE. son, which I had got from a well-meaning but not very learned friend, whose hieroglyphics had got transposed. Early Curled Simpson. (See figure 54). This is still the most generally useful variety for all purposes, and so I place it at the head of the list. Properly speaking, it doss not head, but forms a close, compact mass of leaves, which are of a yellowish shade of green and much curled. 220 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. This peculiarity allows it to mature quicker than varie- ties that form firm heads, and gives it its great desidera- tum earliness. It is the kind that is largely planted in cold frames, although not so largely as the Boston Market; it is also largely grown as an early open air variety between the rows of the Cabbage crop. Black Seeded Simpson. (See figure 55.) Like the Curled Simpson, this variety does not form a head proper, but it differs from the preceding in being much lighter colored, the leaves being creamy yellow ; it attains a size l?ig. 55. BLACK SEEDED SIMPSON LETTUCE. nearly double that of the Curled Simpson. It stands the summer heat well, while it is equally suited for forcing. On account of its large size, however, it might not, under some circumstances, prove so profitable as a strictly forcing sort, such as the Boston Market. Black Seeded Tennis Ball. A favorite forcing vari- ety, and, as the name indicates, forming a hard head. It makes few outer leaves, and for this reason can be planted quite closely under glass from six to seven inches apart. It is the variety so largely used in our hot- beds and forcing-pits in greenhouses. VEGETABLES LETTUCE. 221 Boston Market, or White Seeded Tennis Ball, This is an improved variety of the Tennis Ball which attains a larger size. It grows very compact, is beautifully white and crisp, and is one of the very best varieties for forcing ; in our opinion it is preferable to Black Seeded Tennis Ball. Salamander, (See figure 56.) A grand Lettuce for summer use, forming good - sized, compact heads ; in color it is light green outside and white on the inside. Its great merit is that it will withstand drouth and heat, and remain longer in head without , . Fiff. 56. SALAMANDER LETTUCE. bursting, than any other variety except the " New York." Is largely grown for Philadelphia and New York markets. Yellow Seeded Butter, Like the Salamander, this stands the summer's heat well. It is a very distinct sort, making a large, dense, yellow head, very crisp and tender, and of excellent flavor. Its beautiful yellow heart gives it a very handsome appearance. Lanrc White Summer (-ahba^e, One of the very best late varieties for summer; heads of good. size, close, and well formed. It is a splendid market variety. New York, (See figure 57.) This is a remarkable summer Lettuce introduced in the spring of 1886 ; the size and solidity of its head are unusual. We have seen it eighteen inches in diameter and weighing nearly four pounds, with heads almost as solid as an Early Summer Cabbage, which in form it somewhat resembles. It blanches itself naturally, is crisp, tender, and ol excel- GARDENING FOB PROFIT. lent flavor. It will not do for forcing, but is almost certain to prove one of the best summer varieties, as the . 57. NEW YORK LETTUCE. trials in my Experimental Grounds for the past two years show it to be the last of fifty kinds to run to seed. All the Year Round. As its name implies, it is one of the best for general crop. Heads of medium size, solid, of dark green color. Paris White Cos, (See figure 58.) Although the Cos varieties of Lettuce are not so suitable for our cli- mate (as they tend too quickly to run to seed), as the varieties previously Fig.58. PABIS WHITE cos LETTUCE. men tioiied, yet they are sometimes grown in the early spring and fall for private use, though I have never seen them in our markets. In VEGETABLES MARJORAM MELON. 223 shape they differ materially from the other varieties, the head being elongated and of conical form, eight or nine inches in height, and five or six inches in diameter. The color of this variety is yellowish-green. To be had in perfection, it requires to be tied up to ensure blanching. Millions of this variety are annually grown to supply the markets of London alone, where it is preferred to all others. MARJORAM. SWEET. (Origanum Marjoram.) A well-known aromatic herb, grown to a considerable extent for market purposes ; but as it is of less import- ance than Thyme, which is grown very largely for sale, the reader is referred to that head for all information regarding its culture, price, etc., as in these particulars they are entirely identical. MELON. MUSK (Cucumis Melo.) The Melon is not cultivated in the vicinity of New York in the market gardens proper, but to a large extent in what may be called the farm gardens of Long Island and New Jersey. There it is grown -almost in the same manner as they grow Corn, planting about the same time and cultivating in the same manner, and often with bat very little more profit per acre than a crop of Corn. But the Melon is a fruit easily shipped, and when grown by the forwarding process we detail for Cucum- bers by planting the seeds on sods under glass there is no question but that it can be made equally profitable in all respects with the Cucumber, when grown in south- ern latitudes for our northern markets ; although, like many other fruits and vegetables so easily raised, it can 224: GARDENING FOR PRO- O\ never be expected to be very profitable if sold in the district in which it is grown. It is a plant not at all particular as to soil, provided it be not wet or heavy. Moderately enriched, light soils, are those most congenial to it. For open field culture, Melons should be planted in hills six feet each way, incorporating well with the soil in each hill a couple of shovelfuls of thoroughly rotted manure. Sow four or five seeds in each hill,* and culti- vate afterward as for Corn. A clover sod is especially favorable for Melons. The main point is to push the crop forward as rapidly as pos- sible, so as to catch the high prices which usually rale for an early crop. One of the Melon growers of Hacken- sack, New Jersey, admitted to me that he had lost the whole of his late crop by withholding the expenditure of $25 or $30 for guano on his field of twelve acres, which, if used at the planting, would have pushed the crop for- ward six. or eight days, and would thus have saved it from an early fall frost. For this reason, a dressing of guano or bone-meal, well mixed with the soil, should always be used if we would attain the most profitable results. It is a crop that can be as easily raised as a crop of Corn, and when sold at wholesale, it is safe to say, will always pay ar profit of at least $100 per acre. The variety most preferred for this section is that known as Hackensack, which is grown by the hundreds of acres for the New York market. The most successful growers greatly increase the yield of this crop by a system of * The term " hill," when used here and elsewhere, means but a slight elevation of the surface, and is used only as a convenient term to denote where the seed or plant is to be planted. But from the signification of the word, it naturally leads the novice in gardening into very serious error, by causing him to think he must literally raise a hill on which to sow or plant, and in consequence we too frequently see plants elevated on little knolls a foot or more above the general surface from which the rain slides, and on which the sun beats to their utter destruction. VEGETABLES MELON. 225 pinching the main vine, so as to encourage the lateral shoots upon which the fruit is borne. A large grower in the vicinity of Hackensack, New Jereey, a noted locality in this respect, gives the following details of the culture : Melons are a special crop which needs particular care and culture. In some localities they are grown for market in great quantities. It is said that, on one evening in 1885, 160 two-horse wagon loads, each of about 1,000 Melons, crossed by one ferry from a suburb of New York City. And this was by no means an extra occasion. The Melon season lasts from July into Octo- ber, so that some idea may be gained from this of the magnitude of this business. The crop is a very profit- able one when skilfully cultivated, and often realizes $500 to $1,000 an acre, and more rarely even as high as $1,500, when the Melons are the first in the market and bring the highest price of the season. But as with other products, these large profits are only realized by those growers whose long experience and skill give them more than usual advantages. The methods, however, are no secret, and any one who will follow them may just as easily meet with the same success. The most suitable soil for Melons is a rich, warm, deep, sandy loam, having a southern or southwestern exposure. The latter is prefera&e, as it gets the last rays of the sun and the soil is thus warmed up for the night, and, being sheltered from eastern and northern winds, retains this warmth until the morning. This may make several days' difference in the ripening of the crop, which may be equivalent to $300 or $400 an acre in the value of the fruit. The manner of culture is as follows : The soil is plowed in the fall or early in the spring and is cross-plowed the first days of May, about twenty loads per acre of manure being plowed under, in addition to the special manuring for each hill. The ground is then well harrowed and furrowed out six feet 226 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. apart each way. A good shovelful of mixed fine manure and night soil, together with a small handful of guano, is used in each hill, being mixed with the soil, for nine inches deep and twenty-four inches wide ; six or eight seeds are planted in each hill. The first planting is early in May ; other plantings may be continued through June. The hill is raised two or three inches above the surface, and is made about two feet broad and quite flat. When the plants appear above the surface they require protection from cut worms, which would otherwise cut the stems and destroy them ; and as the rough leaves appear, the weaker plants are thinned out and only three left. A good method of protecting the plants against the cut worms is to make a ring of thick paper, about a foot in diameter and three inches broad, and place this around them, so as to form an obstacle over which they cannot climb. The after cultivation consists of deep plowing at intervals, at least twice, and frequent cultiva- tion, until the vines begin to run, when the terminal buds are pinched off to cause the growth of the lateral branches. The main vine produces chiefly male or bar- ren flowers, and if this is left to run, the laterals would not push out and there would be little or no fruit. The lateral shoots bear the female or perfect flowers, and to encourage the growth of these, is one of the secrets of Melon culture upon which the profits depend. The same peculiarity of growth is found in all the gourd tribe, and applies to Squashes, Cucumbers and Water Melons, as well as to Musk Melons, careful attention to which, other things being right, makes success certain. The pests of the Melon are lice, the striped beetle, and the squash bug. The lice appear on the under side of the leaves and are difficult to get at, so that the simplest and most effective remedy is to pinch off the affected leaves or the part of the vine and carry it away and burn it. If left undisturbed, the lice from one hill will quickly VEGETABLES MELOtf. 227 spread over several square rods and completely destroy the crop. A sure preventive against the lice or Aphis is tobacco, which, if either in the form of refuse stems or dust, is strewn on the hill, the lice will ne\er appear ; it will also act as a preventive against the striped bug. The striped beetle is the worst enemy to deal with. It lays its eggs on the stem at the ground, and the smal] grubs work their way to the root and feed upon it. The first indication of their presence is the wilting of the leaves ff going down" of the vines, the growers call it and vine after vine thus goes down, until at times the larger part of the crop may be destroyed when the Melons are half grown. The remedy for this pest is to apply strong tobacco water around the stem on the first appear- ance of the small striped beetle and repeat it in a few days, and to repeat it again as soon as the wilting of the first leaf is noticed. The fruit begins to " net" about two weeks before it ripens, and the indications of ripe- ness are the fragrant scent, the softness of the blossom end of the melon, and the cracking and easy parting of the stem. Too much care cannot be used in sowing the seeds of all plants of this class, as they cross very readily ; for this reason, when seeds are to be saved from any par- ticular variety, care must be taken that it is widely re- moved from any other not less than 300 yards. If seed is not wanted, improper crossing will make no difference to the fruit that season, but the seed the pro- duct of that crop will be affected thereby, and its im- purity developed in the fruit raised from it. From the facility with which the Melon intermixes, it follows that the varieties are very numerous, and for the same reason it is difficult to retain varieties pure. The following seem to be the most fixed in character, and are the varieties in general use: Early Hackensack, This is an improvement of recent 223 GARDEXISTG FOR PROFIT. introduction on the well-known "Hackensack," de- scribed below, in being from five to six days earlier. This earliness gave a grower in Albany, New York, last summer (1886), over $100 more per acre in using this variety, above all other kinds tried. In size it is some- Fig. 59. HACKENSACK MUSK MELON. what smaller, but it is similar in other respects to the large Hackensack. llackeusack* (See figure 59.) This is now one of the most popular varieties grown for market by the gardeners of this vicinity. It attains a large size, is round in shape and flattened at the ends ; skin green and thickly netted. The flesh also is green, and rich and sugary in flavor. It is wonderfully productive. Golden Netted Gem. (See figure 60.) This is one of the earliest, and no doubt the best small Melon grown. The fruit is globe-shaped, uniform in size, weighing from one and a quarter to one pound and Fig. 60. GOLDEN NETTED a half each. The flesh is light- OEM MUSK MELON. green, and of fine flavor. Baltimore. (See figure 61.) This is a productive and VEGETABLES MELOX. 229 excellent shipping Melon, that can always be found in its season in the best hotels and restaurants of New York, Fig. 61. BALTIMORE MUSK MELON. Philadelphia and Baltimore. It is a thick, green-fleshed variety of oblong form, and of excellent flavor. In Bal- timore and farther south this class of Melon is known as Cantaloupe. Montreal Market. (See figure 62.) The Melons of Fig. 62. MONTREAL MAHKET MUSK MELON. this excellent variety are of the largest size. We have 230 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. had them weighing over twenty pounds. In form it is almost round and deeply ribbed. The skin is green and netted ; flesh green, very thick and of the finest flavor. It is largely raised for the markets of Montreal, where it is justly highly esteemed. Green Citron. This excellent Melon was formerly the leading variety in our New York markets, but of late years it has been superseded by the Hackensack. The fruit is of medium size, deeply netted, of globular shape and six to eight inches in diameter. Flesh green and of fine flavor. MELON. WATER. (Citrullus vulgaris.) Like the Musk Melon, when cultivated for sale, this is essentially a plant more suited for the farm than the garden, as it requires even more space in which to grow. The soil best suited to it is a rather sandy loam, heavier soils being apt to induce a too strong growth of leaves. It should be planted about the same time and cultivated in all respects the same as the Musk Melon, only that the hills should not be less than eight feet apart. It is grown in immense quantities on the light sandy soils of New Jersey for the New York and Philadelphia markets, in which it is said to give a profit of from $50 to $100 per acre. But it is in the vicinity of our Southern cities Charleston, Savannah, and also many points in Florida, etc., where we have regular steamboat communication, that these tropical fruits can be grown at a high rate of profit to the cultivator. Water Melons grown in the vicinity of Charleston in July are sold by the tens of thousands in New York to the consumer at $1 each, while those grown in Southern Jersey in August and September, are a drug at fifteen and twenty-five cents. The leading varieties are: VEGETABLES MELON". 231 Phinncy's Early, Very early, productive, of medium size and quality. Ice Cream, The White Seeded Ice Cream or Peerless is of medium size, skin pale green, flesh scarlet, of the best quality. Mountain Sweet, An old favorite. It is of large size, oblong shape, skin very dark green, flesh red, solid and very sweet. Rattlesnake or Gypsy, (See figure 63.) Now per- haps the leading market variety. The Melons are oblong . 63. STRIPED GYPSY WATERMELON. in shape, the rind is light green in color, with wavy stripes of dark green ; flesh bright red and of fine flavor. One of the very best Melons for shipping. Kolb's Gem, A new and early variety that is already largely grown, particularly in the South, for shipment to the Northern markets. Commission dealers say that as a shipping variety it is hardly equaled. The fruit is nearly round, rind dark green, somewhat marbled with lighter shades. The Melons will vary from twenty-five to fifty pounds each in weight. Mammoth Ironclad, This variety is of mammoth size, specimens often weighing eighty pounds and up- wards. The rind is marked with regular stripes of light and dark green. It is a very showy variety of fair qual- ity. Shape oblong. 232 GARDENING FOR PROFIT, Icing or Ice Rind, -(See figure 64.) There are two types of this Melon dark and light, both of excellent Fig. 64. ICING OK ICE RIND WATERMELON. flavor. This is the favorite variety of the market gar- deners of South New Jersey. Black Spanish, Fruit medium size, almost round ; skin dark gresn ; flesh red, sweet and delicious. Scaly Bark. (See figure 65.) The rind of this is very thin, and yet so tough and strong that it will bear any Fig. 65. SCALY BARK WATERMELON. amount of handling before bursting or cracking open. This characteristic gives to the variety special value for shipping purposes. The flesh is light scarlet in color, and VEGETABLES MELON MIXT. 233 of excellent flavor. To give some idea of what pressure tins variety will bear, we state the fact that, in 1884, a specimen of this variety left at our office stood a pressure of 1,250 pounds .before breaking. There are numerous other varieties constantly being offered by seedsmen, a few of which are meritorious, although the majority of them are worthless. Besides the sorts already given, the variety known as Pride of Georgia is worthy of mention. Citron. Outwardly a very handsome Melon. The fruit is of small size, but not worth growing as a ripened fruit. It is used to some extent for making sweetmeats, for which purpose it is alone cultivated. MINT. (Mentha viridis.) A hardy perennial plant, found growing in abundance along the roadsides in many places. It is often grown in gardens, however, and is used in soups, sauces, salads, etc., very generally. It is of the easiest culture. It is increased by divisions of the root, and planted at dis- tances of a foot apart. It quickly forms a mass, which may be cut from for many years without renewal. It is grown to a considerable extent in hot-beds and forcing- pits, in the same way as Lettuce, and sold in the markets in early spring. Its treatment there is very simple, being merely to lift up-the roots in solid mass, placing them on the three or four inches of earth in the hot-bed or bench of the forcing- house, and water freely as soon as it begins to grow. The sale is not large, but growers realize about $10 per sash (three by six), for what is thus grown throughout winter and spring. 234 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. M ART YNIA. (Marty nia proboscidea. ) A vegetable used to a considerable extent for pickling, the pods or fruit of which are produced in the greatest abundance. It is cultivated by sowing in open ground in April or May, and transplanting to two feet each way in June ; it is fit for use in July and August. MUSTARD. (Sinapis alba, and S. nigra.) Is used for culinary purposes as a salad, usually in con- junction with Cress. For this purpose it may be had throughout the entire season, by sowing during winter in hot-beds or forcing-pits, and, on the opening of spring, in the open ground, where, by sowing at intervals of two or three weeks, it may be had in proper condition for use throughout the year. Sow thickly in rows, one foot apart, on any soiL White Mustard. This is the variety mostly used as a salad ; the seeds are bright yellow, and are used in the manufacture of the Mustard of commerce. Black Mustard. This variety is hardly distinguishable from the preceding, except in the color of its seeds, which are dark-brown ; they are used for medicinal purposes, and also in manufacture of Mustard. MUSHROOM. (Agaricus campestris.) I know of no vegetable which has such a novelty and interest to the beginner as the cultivation of the Mush- room. In all other vegetables he sees something tangible to start with seeds, plants or roots ; but here we may almost say he sees neither, for the seeds cannot be seen VEG KTABLES ML'SHROOIT. 235 with the naked eye, and it requires au unusual effort of the imagination to believe the white moldy substance we call spawn to be either plants or roots. There are so many different systems of growing the Mushroom, de- tailed in most of the works on gardening, that the reader is too often bewildered in choosing a guide. In this I will only detail one method, which I have practiced for many years with unfailing success. To make the cultivation of the Mushroom profitable, it must be done in a building, either specially erected for the purpose, or in some shed, stable or cellar al- ready on the premises, and which can be con- verted to that use. The most suitable place, in establishments having greenhouses, vineries or forcing pits, are the back sheds, usually erected over the boiler pits, such as are shown in the plans of forcing-pits in this work. But such a structure is not indispensable. Any place where a temperature of from fifty to sixty degrees can be sustained during winter will suit. We have also grown them under the % stages of our greenhouses, but our "modern improvements" of late years allow us no longer room for the operation there. The time of begin- ning may be any time during winter. We have usually begun our preparations about December 1st, which brought our beds into bearing about February 1st, at the season that Mushrooms begin to be most wanted. Our method of growing Mushrooms is very simple, and can be accomplished to a certainty by any one conforming Fig. 66. MUSHROOMS. 236 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. strictly to the following directions. Let fresh horse droppings be procured from the stables each day, in quan- tity not less, perhaps, than a good barrow load ; to every barrow load of droppings add about the same weight of fresh loam from a pasture or sod land, or soil of any kind, in fact, that has not been manured the' clanger of old manured soil being that it may contain spurious fungi. Let the droppings and soil be mixed together, day by day, as the droppings can be procured ; if they can be had all at once, in quantity enough, so much the better. Let the heap be turned every day, so that it is not allowed to heat violently, until you have got quantity enough to form the bed of the dimensions required. Be careful that your heap is under cover, so that it cannot possibly get wet. The most convenient size for a bed is from four to five feet in width, and if the Mushrooms are wanted in quan- tity, it is the plan most economical of space to start on the floor of the house with the first bed, the additional ones to be formed of shelving, four feet wide by ten inches deep, raised one above another, something like the berths in a steamboat. Now, from the prepared heap of droppings and soil, spread over the bed a thin layer ; pound this firmly down with a brick ; then another layer, pounded down as before, and so on until it reaches a depth of eight inches. Be careful that it be no more nor less than eight inches ; more would cause the mass to heat too violently, while less is hardly enough. Into this bed plunge a thermometer; in a day or two the bed will heat so that it will run up to 100 degrees or over, and as soon as it declines to ninety- five or ninety, take a dibber or sharp stick and make holes all over the bed, at the distance of about twelve inches each way, to about half the depth of the bed. Into each hole put a piece of spawn of the size of a hen's egg or so, cov- ering up the hole again with the compost, so that it will present the same level, firm surface as before the spawn was VEGETABLES MUSHROOM. 237 put in. Let it remain in this condition for about ten or twelve days, by which time the spawn will have "run"", through the whole bed. This is the method when " brick spawn " is used. When ' ' French Flake " or loose spawn is used, make holes with the hand all over the bed four or five inches deep and wide, in which place a handful of the loose spawn, and again beat it down to its original firm- ness. Now spread evenly over the surface of the bed nearly two inches of fresh loam, firm it down moderately with the back of a spade, and cover up the bed with three or four inches of hay or straw ; this completes the whole operation of " planting the crop." Nothing now remains to be done but to give attention to the proper degrees of heat and moisture. If you can control the means of heating so that the place can be kept uniformly at a temperature of sixty degrees, all the better, but if not, it may range from fifty to sixty degrees. It should never get much be- low fifty degrees, else the bed will become cold too quickly, and delay the crop until too late in the season to be profitable. Unless the air of the house has been unusually dry, the Mushrooms will appear before any water is required. But examination should be made, and if the surface of the bed appears dry, a gentle sprinkljng of Avater, heated to about 100 degrees, must be given. With this, treatment, beginning in* December, our first crop is ready for use in February, and as the Mushrooms do not come up all at ouce, it takes about three weeks to gather the crop, which is fit to gather when the Mush- rooms have got to be an average of about three inches in diameter, the under side having a delicate pink color. In gathering the crop, it is best to give the Mushrooms a slight twist, so as to disturb as little as possible the young ones which usually come up in dense clusters, as shown in the engraving. After the first crop has been gathered, a slight dressing of fresh soil, of about half an inch in 238 GARDENING FOE PROFIT. depth, is spread over the bed, and again beaten down with the spade. This is gently watered with tepid water when dry, and a second crop of Mushrooms (often better than the first), is gathered in March. To show how a simple oversight in our operations may defeat the whole work, I will state that, in my first at- tempt at Mushroom growing, I labored for two years without being able to produce a single Mushroom. In my apprentice days we had known no such word as fail in so simple a matter, but here, on my first attempt on my own responsibility, I was met by total failure. Every authority was consulted, all the various methods tried, but with no better success. In all such cases something must be blamed, and I pronounced the spawn as worth- less ; but my good-natured employer quietly suggested that this could not well be, as a friend of his had abun- dant crops growing from spawn received from the same source. Driven into a corner by this information, I made another exploration of my "authorities," and was fortu- nate to find in one of them a single sentence that at once showed where my error had been. It was to "be careful to delay the covering with mold until ten or twelve days aZter the bed had been spawned." Now, in all the different methods I had tried, I had in each invariably put in the spawn, and at once put on the two-inch covering of soil, which had the effect to shut dawn the steam, thereby raising the temperature in the bed to a degree to destroy the spawn, and consequently to defeat my whole operations. My excuse for this di- gression is to show the importance of what might other- wise be thought unnecessary details. The plan of one of our most successful Mushroom growers in the neighborhood of New York is practically that of rny own just given, except that he makes a differ- ence in covering. Instead of using the two inches of loose soil, as was my method, he uses old compact sod, VEGETABLES MUSHROOM. 239 cut two inches thick, placing the grassy side downward. This he has found in his experience to be the best method, which his extraordinary success seems to well attest. Although spawn is procurable at cheap rates in all hor- ticultural stores, yet to such as desire to make it them- selves I give the following brief directions. Take equal portions of horse droppings, cow dung and fresh loam ; mix the whole thoroughly together, as you would make mortar ; then form it into cakes about the size of large bricks ; place these on edge, under cover, until they be- come half dry ; then insert into each a piece of spawn half an inch or so square; let the bricks remain until they are quite dry. Then spread about eight inches of horse dung over the floor of the shed, on .which build the bricks in a pile three feet wide by three feet high, keeping the side in which the spawn has been put uppermost ; then cover them over with sufficient stable manure, so as to give a gentle heat through the whole. In two or three weeks the spawn will have spread itself through the whole mass of each brick. They are then removed to a dry place, and will retain their vital properties for many years. There is not the least question that the cultivation of Mushrooms for market, forced in the manner detailed, will give a larger profit for the 1-ibor and capital invested than that from any other vegetable. The supply has never yet been half enough, and sellers have had prices almost pretty much as they pleased. I know of no house in this vicinity there are some, I believe, in Canada that have been especially erected for the purpose, and the markets have been supplied from beds formed in out-of-the-way corners, giving only an uncertain and irregular supply, very discouraging to buy- ers. I have no doubt whatever that Mushroom houses, roughly built, but exclusively devoted to that purpose, would, in the vicinity of any of our large cities, pay a profit of thirty per cent, per annum on cost of construe- 240 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. tion. I am often asked if it will pay to raise Mushrooms outside during summer. I do not think it would, unless under special contract, as, besides being less appreciated in hot weather, they come in competition with those grown in the fields. If, however, it is desired to raise the crop in summer, adopt exactly the plan above ad- vised ; all that is necessary to see to is, that the beds are made in the shade and protected against rain. NASTURTIUM. INDIAN CRESS. ( Tropceolum.) A plant at once highly ornamental and useful. The shoots and flower buds are sometimes used as a salad, but it is grown for its seed-pods, which are pickled in vin- egar and used as a substitute for capers. It can be grown in almost any soil or situation, entwining itself around strings, brush or trellis work, that may be given for its support. It may be sown thinly in drills an inch or so deep, in April or May. There are many beautiful vari- eties, but the following are only those in use in our vege- table gardens. Tall Nasturtium (T. majus), attains a height of eight or nine feet ; the flowers are yellow, blotched with crim- son. This variety makes an excellent screen or covering for unsightly places in the garden. Dwarf Nasturtium (T. minus.) This, in growth, is quite distinct from the preceding, never attaining more than three feet ; it should be sown thinly in drills, three feet wide, and staked up with brush like Peas. Its flow- ers are handsome, bright yellow, blotched with scarlet. VEGETABLES OKRA OXIOX. 241 OKKA OE, GUMBO. (Abelmoachus esculentus.) This vegetable is extensively grown in the Southern States. Its long pods, when young, are used in soups, stews, etc., and are believed to be very nutritious. It is of the easiest culture, and grows freely, bearing abun- dantly on any ordinary garden soil. It is sown at the usual time of all tender vegetables in this district in May in drills two inches deep, and from eighteen to twenty-four inches apart in the rows for the dwarf sorts ; for the tall, nearly double that width. There are now the following sorts : New Dwarf Prolific, Dwarf White, Dwarf Green and Tall Green. Cepa.) Next to Cabbages, perhaps Onions are the most profit- able crop of our market gardens, in which they are grown from sets, and nearly all sold in bunches in the green or unripened state. Grown from seed, they are cul- tivated almost exclusively by farmers or men who devote farm land to this purpose alone. Thus grown they are sold m the dry state, and form an important article of commerce. I will first describe the manner of cultivating in our market gardens. To produce the " sets," or small bulbs, that are planted to give early Onions to be sold green, a poor piece of ground is chosen as early as it is fit to work in spring. It is brought into a thorough state of pulver- ization by plowing, harrowing and raking, so that the surface is level and free of stones. A line is then stretched, and lines are marked out by the nine-inch side of the marker. In these the seed is sown in beds of six rows wide, rubbing out every seventh row marked, so that it forms an alley eighteen inches wide. For this purpose 242 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. the seed is sown quite thickly, and on poor soil, so as to produce the " sets" as small as possible, for we find that whenever they much exceed half an inch in diameter, they will run to seed. It matters not how small the bulb is ; even when of the size of the smallest Peas, they make an equally good if not a better crop than if of a larger size. The sets are taken up in August, well dried, placed with the chaff among them in a loft of a stable or barn, about four inches deep, covered up by six inches of hay on the approach of hard frost, and left thus until wanted for setting out in spring. This is the usual method of raising Onion sets. But few market gardeners can grow them in the ordi- nary manner, unless at a cost greater than they can be purchased for from those who make a business of grow- ing them. But the price paid for sets the past six or eight years has been so high that many market gardeners have abandoned growing Onions from them. For Onion sets the best soil of the garden is chosen, manured with short, well-rotted manure, plowed in at the rate of seventy-five tons to the acre. When only con- centrated manures can be obtained, crashed bone is pre- ferable to guano (for quantity see Chapter on Manures). The ground "is further deeply harrowed, finishing with the smoothing harrow (see Implements), or, if on a small scale, smoothed fine with the rake. The line is now stretched along the bed, and the nine-inch marker again makes the drills, six in each bed, with the seventh rubbed out for an alley. The sets are now planted in the drills at a distance of two to three inches apart, pressing each bulb down firmly, so that it will keep right side up. The row is then closed in by the feet or a rake, so that the set is entirely covered up. The ground is then rolled over, so as to render it still more compact around the bulbs ; as soon as the lines can be traced, by the Onions starting to grow, the hoe is applied between the rows. VEGETABLES OXIOX. 243 and the soil broken between the plants by the fingers, where the hoe cannot reach, so as to destroy the germs of the weeds. If attended to in time, twice going over with hoeing and weeding is sufficient until the crop is fit for market, which it begins to be about the first week in June, and is usually all gathered by the first week in July, so as to give us time for second crops. When we first begin to send them to market, they are usually not more than half grown, and are washed and tied in bunches containing from nine to twelve Onions ; later, when full grown, from six to seven. This crop is one requiring considerable labor and expense to get it in shape to sell, taking cost of sets, labor, manure, etc., probably not less than $300 per acre, for the past fifteen years ; but the receipts have been correspondingly high, averaging in that time quite $500 per acre. Onions, planted from sets, rarely fail to give a crop on any kind of soil, provided it has been well manured ; and although they are sold by the market gardeners in the green state, they are equally good, ripened and dried, when raised from sets as from seed. The quantity of sets required per acre is from six to ton bushels, accord- ing to size. At present prices, they cost $6 per bushel. Another plan to get early Onions to sell green, is to sow the seed in fall in rows from nine to twelve inches apart. The time of sowing is of great importance, and varies, of course, with the locality. In the latitude of New York they may be sown from 5th to 20th Septem- ber ; they do not always stand the winter well here, but it is well worth the risk, as the cost of seed is trifling, compared to cost of setting, and when they stand well the crop is usually better than from sets. A dry, well sheltered soil in this location is a necessity to enable the crop to stand the winter. The following instructions are given for raising Onions as a farm crop to be sold when mature : 244 GARDENING FOR PKOFIT. It is the generally received opinion that Onions grow best in old ground. This we think is an error ; it is not because the ground is "old," or has been long cultivated, that the Onions do better there, but because such lands, from their long culture, are usually better pulverized ; and experience has shown us repeatedly that when new soil has been equally well pulverized and fertilized with the old, an equally good crop is obtained and usually a crop more exempt from rust. As a matter of fact, the finest crop of Onions we ever beheld was on sandy swamp land, which had been first thoroughly drained and broken up. In fact, new soils, particularly when broken up from pasture land turned over early enough in the full so that the sod is completely rotted make excellent land for Onion crops, as they are usually free from weeds. Soils of this kind, however, must be well pulverized by the use of the plow, Acme and smooth- ing harrow, or good results may not follow. Much de- pends on the quality of such soil. If rather sandy loam, it will, of course, be much easier to pulverize than if stiff or clayey loam, and such soil, in our experience, is always preferable for most crops. Such soils, also, are nearly always free from under water, rarely requiring artificial drainage if tho land is level, and it always should be selected as level as possible for the Onion crop, as when land slopes to any great extent, much damage is often done by washing out, the Onicn roots being near the sur- face, consequently cannot so well resist floods, as crops that root deeper. Many Onion growers who make a specialty of the busi- ness, find it is economical to alternate the Onion crop with a green one, such as German Millet, which can be cut for hay in July, the "stubble" plowed down in August, giving a fresh fibrous soil clear of weeds for the Onion crop to be sown next spring. It is not claimed that the alternation of a green crop with the Onions is a VEGETABLES ONTCW. 245 necessity, as it is well known that the Onion is one of the very few crops that do not seem benefited by alternating ; but it is claimed that it gives almost entire freedom from weeds, as after a crop of Millet, which has been cut before its seed is ripe, few troublesome weeds will come np the next year. MA^UKES. I have always held the opinion that when well-rotted stable manure, whether from horses or cows, can be pro- cured at a cost not exceeding $3 per ton, delivered on the ground, it is cheaper and better than any kind of concentrated fertilizer. It should be plowed in at the rate of thirty tons to the acre. The concentrated ferti- lizers in the market are now so numerous that it would be invidious to specify particular brands. We ourselves, except in. using occasionally the " blood and bone ferti- lizer," which we have proved to be excellent, use only pure ground bone and Peruvian guano, which, for Onions, we prefer to mix in equal parts, sowing it on the land, after plowing, at the rate of at least one ton per acre of the mixture (when no stable manure has been used), after sowing to be harrowed in, as described in " Prepar- ing the Ground." One of the most valuable manures for the Onion crop are the droppings from the chicke*n or pigeon-house, which, when mixed with twice their weight of lime, coal or wood ashes, so as to disintegrate and pulverize, may be sown on the land after plowing, to be harrowed in at the rate of three or four tons per acre of the mixture. Night soil, when mixed with dry muck, coal ashes, char- coal dust, lime, or lime rubbish, as absorbents, and spread on after plowing, at the rate of six or eight tons per acre, and harrowed deeply in, the mixture will never fail to produce a heavy crop of Onions in any suitable soil. There are many other manures that will answer tho 24G GARDENING FOR PHOFIT. purpose, often to be had in special localities, such as the refuse hops and "grains" from breweries, which should be used in the same manner and in similar quantities as stable manure; while fish guano, whalebone shavings, or shavings from horn, when pulverized so as to be in proper condition for plant food, are nearly equal in value to ground bone. Wood ashes alone, spread on at the rate of five or six tons per acre, will usually give excellent results. It is well to keep the fact in mind that it will always be more profitable to fertilize one acre of Onions well, than two acres imperfectly. If thirty tons of stable ma- nure or one ton and a half of concentrated fertilizer are used to an acre, the net profits are almost certain to be larger, than if that quantity had been spread over two acres ; for in all probability nearly as much weight of crop would bo produced upon the one well-manured acre as upon the two tluit li-sd been imperfectly manured, besides the saving of seed and labor in cultivating cue acre instead of two. PREPARING THE GROUND. In preparing the ground for the reception of the seed (if it has been plowed the fall previous), plowing should be begun as soon as the land is dry enough to work, first having spread over the land well-rotted stable manure, at the rate of thirty tons to the acre. This should be lightly turned under, plowing not more than five or six inches deep, and covering the manure so that it will be three or four inches under the surface. For this reason the ma- nure must be well rotted, otherwise it cannot be well covered by the plow. If concentrated fertilizers are to be used, it is best to plow the land up roughly, sow the fertilizer at the rate of one to two tons per acre, accord- ing to its fertilizing properties ; then harrow thoroughly, VEGETABLES OK ION. so that it is thoroughly incorporated with the soil. After harrowing with an ordinary toothed harrow, the surface should be further leveled with a Smoothing or Disc har- row. The revolving discs pulverize the soil to a depth of three inches much better than it can be done by raking, and the smoothing board, which follows in the wake of the revolving wheels, makes the surface, if free from stones, as smooth as a board far better than it can be done by raking. The ground being thus prepared, the next thing is the sowing of the seed, about six pounds being used per acre. This, of course, now-a-days, is always done by the seed- drilling machine, of which there are many in the market; we ourselves give preference to the Planet Jr. In sow- ing the first row, a line must be tightly stretched so as to have that row straight, after which the marker can readily regulate the other rows. The favorite distance apart for Onion rows is fifteen inches, though they are sometimes sown as close as twelve inches, leaving put every ninth row for an alley, thus forming beds of eight rows each. Where there is reason to believe that weeds may be troublesome, this plan of forming into beds has the advantage of the alley (twenty-four inches wide), into which to throw the weeds. We so fixedly believe in the value of firming in the seeds after sowing, that we advise, in^addition to the clos- ing and firming of the seeds by the drill, to use a roller besides, particularly if the land is light, or where the soil has not been sufficiently firmed down. There is no other crop where the adage of a "stitch in time " is so applicable as in the Onion crop, therefore, just as soon as the lines can be seen, which will be in ten or twelve days after sowing, apply the scuffle hoe between the rows. There are a great many styles of hand culti- vators, many of which are exceedingly useful when the Onions get strong enough after weeding ; for the first 248 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. hoeing, after the seed shows the lines, we prefer the Planet Jr. Double Wheel Hoe. The distance at which Onions should stand in the rows is from one to two inches, and if the crop is sown evenly and thinly, few require to he taken out, but whether it is weeds or onions that are to he removed, one thing should never be lost sight of that when this operation is done, every inch of the surface should be broken. This is best done after hoeing, by using a wooden lawn rake all over the land, raking lightly across the rows. It is one of the most common mistakes in a laborer when weeding or hoeing, if he sees no weeds, to pass over such portions without breaking the crust. By this neglect, not only is it most likely that he passes another crop of weeds in embryo under the unbroken crust, but the por- tion unbroken loses the stirring so necessary for the well- being of the crop. In our long experience in garden operations, we have had more trouble to keep our workmen up to the mark in this matter than in any other ; and I never fail, whsn I discover a man guilty of such negligence, to set him back over his work until he does it properly, and if he again fails to do so, promptly dismiss him. The Onion crop is usually fit to harvest, in this section, from 5th to 20th of August; that is, when the seed has been sown in early spring, which should be not later than May 1st, if possible, and if by April 1st all the better. If the seed is sown too late, it may delay the time of ripening, which may result in a complete loss of the crop, for, if the bulbs are not ripened by August, there is danger, if September is wet, that they will not ripen at all, hence the great necessity of early seeding in spring. If the Onion crop is growing very strong, it will facili- tate the ripening process if we bend clown the leaves with the back of a wooden rake, or some such implement, VEGETABLES OXIOX. 249 so as to "knee " them, as it is called, at the neck of the bulb ; this checks the flow of sap, and tends to ripen the bulb. After the tops of the Onions become yellow and wither up, they should then be pulled without unnecessary de- lay, for if there is continued wet weather, and we delay the pulling too long, a secondary growth of the bulbs may be developed, which would seriously injure the crop. After pulling, lay the bulbs in convenient rows, so as to cover the ground, but not to lie on each other. By turn- ing them every day or two, in six or eight days they will usually be dry enough to be carted to their storage quar- ters, where the shriveled tops are cut off, and the Onions stored on shitted shelves to the depth of six or eight inches, in some dry and airy place. It is of importance to have the bottom of the shelves slatted, so as to leave spaces an inch or so apart, that air can be admitted at the bottom as well as the top of the heap. The shelves, when all the space at hand is to be made available, may be constructed one above another. But if to be kept through the winter, the Onions must be protected in some building capable of resisting severe frost, or they mus f , be covered with hay or straw as a protection against extreme cold. For, although the Onion will stand a moderate degree of frost, any long continuation of a zero temperature would injure them. When frozen, they should never be handled, as in that condition they are easily blemished, and would rot. When kept in barrels, holes should be bored in the sides for ventilation, and they should be left unheaded until shipping time, to permit the escape of any moisture that may be generated. For the insects and other enemies that attack the Onion crop, I am much afraid there are few if any effec- tive remedies. Every year's experience with the enemies that attack plants in the open field convinces me that we can successfully cope with very few of them. The rem- 250 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. edy, if remedy it is, for rust, smut or other mildew para- sites, must, in my opinion, be a preventive one'; that is, whenever practicable, use new land, or renew the old land, by a green crop, such as Rye, Timothy or Millet, in all sections subject to these diseases. The same plan had better be adopted in all places where the Onion maggot or other insects attack the crop. The theory for this practice is, that it is believed that nearly all plants affected by insects or diseases, have such peculiar to them- selves, and that the germs or eggs lie in the soil ready to fasten on the same crop, if planted without intermission on the same ground, while if a season intervene, the larva or germ has nothing congenial to feed on, and is, in consequence, destro} T ed. In practice we usually find that cultivated land " rested " for a season by a grass crop gives a cleaner and healthier crop of whatever vegeta- ble may follow it. THE PRODUCT. The product of the average Onion crop varies very much, ranging from 300 to 900 bushels per acre, the mean being about 600 bushels per acre. The price, like that of all perishable commodities, is variable, ranging from 50 cents per bushel, the price at which they usually wholesale in the New York market in fall, to $1 or $1.50 per bushel for winter and spring prices. The estimate, then, of profit per acre may be given about as follows : Manure, per acre... $ 72 Plowing, weeding and harvesting crop, per acre- - 100 Six pounds seed, average $2 per pound 12 Rent or interest, on land, per acre 9 Marketing crop, per acre 7 Cost ...$200 Six hundred bushels per acre, at 50 cents 300 Profit... .-.$100 VEGETABLES CARROT. 251 This estimate is a moderate one, for if the crop is sold in spring, the chances are that the profit may be two or three times as great. The leading kinds of Onions arc : Extra Early Flat Red, (See figure G7.) A thin, rather light-colored Onion, a good keeper, and the ear- liest of all. Fig. 07. EXTRA EAELY FLAT RED ONION. Fig. 68. LARGE RED WETHERSFIELD ONION. These cuts, which are hardly half the average natural size, are given to show the shape and relative size of the different kinds. Large Red Wethersfield. (See figure 68.) This is a .favorite sort for general crop. A large yielder and good keeper. Yellow Globe Danvcrs, (See figure G9.) A fine globe-shaped variety, one of the hest yielders and a splen- did keeper. Southport Larse Yellow Globe, (See figure 70.) This is perfectly globular in form. It is a good yielder and fine keeper. The Large Red Globe and the South- 252 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. port Large White Globe possess the same characteristics as the variety just described, and vary only in the color. South port White Globe, One of the finest appearing C9. Y3LLOVV GLOBE DAN- VEKS ONION. . 70. SOUTHPORT LAKGE FALLOW GLOBE ONION. and most saleable sorts we have ; pure white, line flavor and in every way desirable. It is not quite as good a keeper as some of the colored sorts, but it is u great favorite in the New York market. Southport Red Globe, Similar to the above in shape ; color, a deep red ; a good keeper. Bermuda Onion. A distinct sort, principally grown in the Island of Bermuda, although the seed cannot be grown there. There are two varieties of it, the A\hite and the Pale Red. They are both very early, and are the varieties from which as high as 200,000 bags of Onions have been shipped from Bermuda in one sea- son. It is now being extensively inquired for by the truckers in the South, for the reason that it can be grown there as profitably as in Bermuda, which has had VEGETABLES- ONIOX. 253 for thirty years a complete monopoly of its culture. Great care should be taken in getting the seed genuine. Yellow Dutch, A flat, yellow Onion. A good yielder, but not so desirable as other yellow sorts, on account of ifcs color and shape. This and the Flat Yellow Danvers are very similar. It is one of the heaviest croppers. White Portugal or Silver Skin, (See figure 71.) One of the leading sorts of white, flat Onions. A most ex- cellent keeper and good yielder. Fig. 71. WHITE PORTUGAL ONION. Fig. 72.^GIANT ROCCA ONION. The following sorts are Italian varieties, and are well adapted for growing in the Southern States : Queen, This is the earliest of the Italian sorts, small, flat, white and mild-flavored. Neapolitan Marzajola, An early, white, flat Onion, of fine flavor. Giant Rocca, (See figure 72.) A very large-growing globe-shaped variety, of a reddish-brown color ; flavor mild and sweet. 254 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. Large White Italian Tripoli and Large Red Italian Tripoli, (See figure 73.) These grow to a large size, and are later than either of the preceding. Fig. 73. WHITE TRIPOLI ONIOX. Potato Onions are increased by the bulbs as it grows, splitting into six, eight or ten sections, which form the crop from which the "set," or root for next season's planting is obtained. These are planted in early spring, in rows one foot apart, three or four inches between the onions, and, like the Onions raised from sets, are gen- erally sold green, as in that state they are very tender, while in the dry state they are less desirable than the ordinary Onion. Top Onions, so-called, are propagated by the peculiar growth of this variety, which produces a cluster of small bulblets on the Onion stalk, a cluster of bulblets being formed instead of flowers and seeds. In all respects its culture is the same as the Potato Onion, only that, as the bulbs are smaller, they can be planted closer. VEGETABLES PAKSLEY. 255 PARSLEY. (Petroselinum sativum.) A vegetable in more general use for garnishing than any other plant of oar gardens ; it is also extensively used in soups, stews, etc. Its cultivation forms quite an important item in market gardens, particularly under glass. The manner of cultivating it thus is by sowing it between the rows of a growing crop of Lettuce in our cold frames in April. As it is slow to germinate, it only appears at the time the Lettuce is cut off in May. It is then cleared from weeds, hoed, and forms a growth fit to cut a month before that sown in the open ground. After the first cutting has been made in June, it is gen- erally so low in price as not to be worth marketing, so it is allowed to grow through the summer until the first week in September, when it is cut off close to the ground and thrown away, as it is rarely wanted at this season. Ifc is again hoed, and as at this j:ime it makes a short, healthy growth, suitable for keeping well in winter, it is stowed away in narrow, shallow trenches, exactly in the same manner in which we preserve Celery. This way of growing Parsley is, I believe, mainly con- fined to the vicinity of New York, but as the consump- tion of such an article is necessarily limited, this market has been oversupplied of late years. Formerly it has frequently paid twice the value of the sash that covered it in one season $6 for a three by six sash. No doubt, in many places, this system of growing would be as profit- able as it used to be with us. When not grown under glass, it should be sown thickly in rows a foot apart in early spring in the open ground. Where greenhouses are used for forcing vegetables, Parsley can be nicely grown under the benches, at least as far under as there is partial light. This is best done by sowing the seed in boxes (three or four inches deep, eighteen inches wide, and . two feet in length), in August, keeping them out-of-doors until cold 256 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. weather in November, and then placing them under the benches of the greenhouse, but close to the walk, where they will get the most light, as this space cannot be util- ized for anything else, except for forcing Rhubarb and Asparagus or Parsley. (See Chapter 10, " Greenhouses for Forcing Vegetable Crops. " ) If Parsley is wanted in winter, it will be found to do nearly as well in this posi- tion as in the full light. The varieties are . Henderson's Emerald, (Sec figure 74.) The finest variety for market, decidedly lighter in color than the Fig. 74 EMERALD PARSLEY. Double and Moss Curled varieties. Is particularly adapted for garnishing, which is one of the main uses to which Parsley is put. It is now the mam sort grown by the market gardeners of New York. Double Curled. A dwarf growing variety, beautifully curled. The kind most largely grown by market gar- deners, until the introduction of the '" Emerald." Fern Leaved, Distinct and beautiful. Very useful for table decoration, as it appears more like a crested Fern or Moss than like Parsley. VEGETABLES PAESXIP. Plain. Of this variety the leaves are plain. It is har- dier, however, than any of the curled sorts. Eiamtmrg, or Turnip-Rooted. A fleshy-rooted kind, the roots of which are used for flavoring soups. P ARSNIP, (Pastinaca sativa. ) Of late years our market garden grounds have become too valuable to be used in growing this vegetable, the competition from well cultivated farm lands having brought it down below our paying level. Its cultivation is, in all respects, similar to the Carrot. The soil most suitable is a deep and sandy loam, moderately enriched. It is sown rather thickly in our gardens in early spring, in rows which are about twelve or fourteen inches apart ; on farm lands at eighteen or twenty inches, or wide enough for the rows to be worked between by the horse cultivator. Like all vegetables of this nature, it must be thinned out to a distance of about three or four inches between the plants, and our oft-repeated caution about weeds is here again enjoined. Parsnips are used almost exclusively in winter, but in our Northern States what is wanted for winter use must be dug up in fall, and packed away in the manner described under the head of " Pre- serving Vegetables in Winter." What are wanted for sale or use in spring, are best left in the bed where they grew, being entirely hardy in our coldest districts. About one-half is usually dug up and pitted in fall for sale in winter, and the other half left over for spring. But it sometimes happens that the winter supply is ex- hausted before the frost is out of the ground in spring sufficiently to permit of their being dug, and when pro- curable at such times, they command almost fabulous 258 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. prices. However, the average price is just about that of Carrots. The varieties are confined to the Hollow Crowned, Mostly used by market gardeners. The Student. Grows a little smaller, but has a more delicate flavor. Early Round. A small round early sort. PEA. (Pisum sativum.) The Pea is grown largely for market purposes in nearly every State in the Union, the time at which it is sown and matures being at widely different dates in Northern and Southern sections. In any district its highest de- gree of perfection is attained under a comparatively low temperature, hence it is one of the many vegetables de- scribed as best to be sown in " early spring." True, it is sown for a succession crop throughout the summer months, even as late as August, but the first sowings ever} where always produce the best results, and it is from the first sowings only that it is mostly offered in market. For market purposes it is more a crop of the farm than of the garden, and many hundred acres are cultivated in Southern Jersey and Long Island for the New York market. Warm, light soils, moderately enriched by stable ma- nure or bone dust, are best adapted to its culture, but if the ground has been manured the previous year, no ma- nure is needed. The whole crop is marketed by July, and is usually followed by a second crop of Late Cabbages or Turnips. The two crops together average a profit of from $100 to $200 per acre, according to earliness, con- dition of soil, etc. There is an important matter con- VEGETABLES PEA. 59 nected "with growing Peas, that confines their culture to the vicinity of a town or village it is the necessity of being able to get a large number of hands to pick at the time they are marketable. The variation in one day in the market is not unusually from $2 to 50 cents per bushel, which shows the great importance of an early crop. From the soft condition in which it is required to be gathered, it is a vegetable not very manageable to ship, and the packages, which should be latticed boxes or baskets, should never exceed the capacity of a bushel, when shipped from distances requiring from two to three days in the transit. But even this expense and care are well repaid by the high rates for which the first lots are sold. When grown as a market crop, Peas are rarely ever staked. They are sown in single rows about two inches deep, the rows two to three feet apart, according to the variety or the strength of the soil. When grown in small quantities for private use, they are generally sown in double rows, six or eight inches apart, and staked up by brush, for the taller growing kinds. The varieties are very numerous, but are in a great state of confusion, the same kind being often sent out under a dozen names. The following varieties are well- defined, arranged as our experience gives the order of merit for this locality. PEAS EXTEA EARLY. First of All, (See figure 75.) One of the best types of the Extra Early Class, and unsurpassed as a market variety. The pods are of good size and well-filled. A very heavy bearer, and can be picked clean in two pick- ings, thus making it the best sort for early planting in market gardens. It is also very hardy, and when planted in the fall or early spring, as is done in some parts of the South, usually stands the cold better than 260 GARDENING FOE PROFIT. VEGETABLES PEA. 261 any other sort. One bushel and a half of seed is re- quired per acre. Improved Daniel O'Rourke and Extra Early, These are excellent early varieties and great favorites in all parts of the country, but are not so regular in habit as the First of All. These, as well as the First of All, should be sown for a field crop in rows of from two to two and a half feet apart, about one and a half bushel of seed being required for an acre. American Wonder, (See figure 76.) One of the best acquisitions of this generation, but a variety perhaps better suited for private use than to the market gardener. It is early and very productive. The peas are wrinkled, and its distinctiveuess consists in its extremely dwarf growth, which rarely exceeeds ten inches in height. Can be sown at eighteen inches apart ; two bushels of seed is re- quired for an acre. Like all wrinkled peas, the flavor is much superior to the round, or first early kinds. Alaska. Very distinct and first, early; foliage very light green, vines slender. In our trials this year (1886), it was shown to be very productive. Premium Gem, A green, wrinkled marrow, that comes into use just a few days later than the First of All or Improved Daniel O'Eourke. Jt grows from twelve to eighteen inches high, is very productive, and of excel- lent flavor. Kentish Invicta, About five days later than the First , of All and Daniel O'Rourke. Very productive, and pos- sesses fine flavor. Although it is one of the best for can- ning purposes, it is also largely grown for market. McLean's Advancer. A second early variety, and now a great favorite with market growers in this neighbor- hood, among whom it is often known as the Early GARDENING FOR PROFIT. VEGETABLES PEA. 263 Champion. It is a green wrinkled variety, of delicious flavor. FOR THE GENERAL CROP. Champion of England. This is still, by general con- sent, acknowledged to be the best of the late sorts. It is a tall-growing kind, attaining a height of four feet or more, and requires to ])e stak- ed. The pods and peas are of the largest size. Stratagem. (See figure 77.) Is a newer variety, and by good judges considered one of the best Peas raised in recent years. It is a dwarf -grow- ing, wrinkled, blue marrow, and produces large, well-filled pods. Yorkshire Hero. A splen- did wrinkled green marrow Pea, of a branching habit, and an abundant bearer. Seedsmen on both sides of the Atlantic find their sales for this variety constantly on the increase. Telephone. A newer tall, wrinkled marrow, with enorm- ous pods, which are not al- ways well-filled. In spite of this, it is becoming a favorite market garden sort. STRATAGEM PEA. Bliss' Abundance! Remarkably productive ; grows from twenty-four to thirty inches high. Bliss' Everbearing, Also very productive ; grows 264: GARDENING FOR PROFIT. from eighteen to twenty-four inches high. Should be planted thinly, and is noted for a continuance of bearing. Pride of the Market, Also a new sort, strong grow- ing, and a wonderful bearer. It grows only from eighteen to twenty-four inches high, producing large pods of Peas of exceptionally fine flavor. Black-Eyed and White Marrowfat, These are both productive and hardy varieties, extensively grown as field Peas, to be used dry. They are also, from their great productiveness, grown largely in both private and mar- ket gardens, but they are not of so fine flavor as most other varieties. PEPPER. (Capsicum annuum.) A tropical plant, that requires to be started in hot-beds or forcing-pits in the Northern States. The most com- mon method is to sow in hot-beds in March, and treat in all respects as directed for the cultivation of the Egg Plant. Light sandy soils are rather best suited for its growth, but it will grow tolerably well on any soil. When cultivated for market they are planted in rows two feet apart and fifteen inches between the plants. The crop is only moderately profitable, but it is not grown in large quantities, the main consumption of it being by the pickle factories. The varieties are : Large Bell or Bull Nose, An early variet}', of mild flavor, and a favorite sort both for pickling and for use in the natural state. Sweet Mountain or Mammoth. Similar to the Bull Nose, but larger and milder in flavor. Used to make stuffed pickles. VEGETABLES POTATO. 265 Rul)y Kiil, Introduced two years ago, and a decided acquisition. The peppers grow from four and a half to six inches long by three and a half to four inches thick, are bright-red in color, and are mild and pleasant to the taste. Squash or Tomato-Shaped, Generally grown for pickling, hardly so early as the Bull Nose, but very pro- ductive, and the leading market variety. Golden Dawn, Of the same shape and size as the Large Bell, but of more delicate flavor, while the color, as the name indicates, is a beautiful golden .yellow. Cranberry, One. of the best for pickling. The fruit closely resembles the Cranberry in appearance. Long Ked Cayenne, The variety of commerce. Pods small, cone-shaped, scarlet when ripe. It is quite a late variety, but the pods are as frequently used for pick- ling green as when ripe. POTATO.-- (SoZcmwi tuberosum.) The soil acknowledged to be best suited for the Potato is sandy loam ; in all heavy soils it is more subject to disease, and the flavor is also much inferior ; this, how- ever, is true of nearly all vegetables, heavy land inducing a watery insipidity of flavor. Like all robust-growing vegetables, Pototoes can be grown with varying success on soils of all kinds and in all conditions of fertility, but it is every way most profitable to use an abundance of manure when it is at all attainable. In breaking up good pasture land, the decaying sod answers sufficiently well for the first year in lieu of manure. Manure is applied either in the rows or hills, or broadcast over the surface, and plowed in ; the latter plan being in all cases pre- 2G6 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. ferable, when manure can be obtained in sufficient quan- tities. Potatoes, when grown for market at the North, are always a farm crop, the receipts per acre being much too low for the regular market garden. The large quantities that are planted usually prevent the use of manure in any other way except in the rows. When thus applied, fur- rows are plowed out in spring, after the ground has be- come dry and warm, usually three feet apart, and from four to five inches deep. The manure is spread in the furrow, the " sets " or " seed " planted thereon from eight to ten inches apart, and the furrow again covered in by the plow. As- soon as the shoots are seen above ground the ridge should be at once hoed, and the cultivator run between the rows. As they advance in growth, the soil should be laid up on each side against the row, so as to form a slight ridge. The Potato disease, which has frequently been so dis- astrous in Ireland and parts of Scotland, has never been very devastating here. It is now well known to be a par- asitical fungus, Peronosporainfestans, for which all reme- dies are useless when the crop is attacked. Like all dis- eases of this kind, the only help we have is prevention. As far as experiments have gone, they have shown that Potatoes are always less liable to attacks of disease or rot if planted in new land, broken up from the sod, or at least that which has not been long in cultivation. Another enemy to this crop is the well-known Colorado Potato beetle. Fortunately, for this pest we have a cer- tain remedy in Paris green, mixed with twenty parts of flour, applied by dusting while the dew is on the leaves in the morning, or after a rain, or else in a liquid form of one ounce of Paris green to ten gallons of water. But which- ever way it is applied, it should be begun at the very first appearance of the beetles. If they once get a foothold, they increase so rapidly that the crop is often destroyed VEGETABLES POTATO. 267 before the remedy can be of any avail. Paris green being a deadly poison, it is absolutely necessary that fields on which Potatoes are growing should be protected from cattle. It is sometimes supposed that danger might arise from the use of the Paris green affecting the Potato tubers. There need be no fear of this, as the tubers do not in any way absorb it. The Long Island farmers, in the neighborhood of Xew York, have their crops of Early Potatoes sold off early enough in July to get the ground leveled and Late Cab- bages planted on the ridge on which the Potatoes have been growing, sufficient manure being left in the ground to carry through the crop of Cabbage. The two crops together give an average profit of $150 an acre. Potatoes may be preserved during winter by. the section pit system recommended for the general preservation of vegetables, or in a frost-proof cellar. The varieties of the Potato are very numerous, many of them having only a local reputation, so that it is some- Avhat difficult to name the best for such an extensive ter- ritory as ours. But few of the varieties named below were* grown twenty years ago, but these are such as are now in very general demand, which indicates that they are the best for general cultivation. Early Rose. A standard variety everywhere. It is still one of the best for earliness, quality and productive- ness yet introduced. Vanguard* Extremely early, perhaps the earliest of all. Quality unsurpassed, but not quite so heavy a yielder as some others. Pearl of Savoy, A good yielder and a very excellent variety. The tubers are large and oblong ; flesh, white and mealy. Beauty of Hebron, One of the best early sorts, being very productive and of fine quality. 268 GARDENING FOK PROFIT. Empire State, (See figure 78.) This is a new main crop variety, very productive, and in the estimation of the originator, Mr. Coy (to whom we are indebted for the Beauty of Hebron), a perfect Potato for general pur- poses. It is of excellent quality, and a rough and vigor- ous grower. White Elephant. Is late, large, of good quality, and enormously productive. VEGETABLES POTATO. 269 Clark's No, 1, (See figure 79.) This is said to be earlier than the Early Rose, and it is certainly very pro- ductive. The flavor is excellent, and it cooks dry and Fig. 79. CLMvK"S NO. 1 POTATO. mealy. A great favorite about Charleston, S. 0., where it is grown for the Northern markets. St, Patrick. One of the handsomest varieties in cul- tivation. The tubers are smooth, with very few and shallow eyes. A good yielder, and of the best quality. Rural Blush. Spoken of very higlily, both as to yield and quality. Rochester Favorite. A late sort, tubers white and oblong. It is an excellent market Potato, as it is an im- mense yielder. Triumph. An .early variety, that has given great sat- isfaction, particularly in the South. Very productive, and of good quality. Perfect Peachblow, (See figure 80.) A most prom- ising new variety, resembling somewhat the old Peach- 270 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. blow in general appearance, but ripening earlier and cooking through very quickly and evenly, a characteristic Fig. 80. PERFECT PEACHBLOW POTATO. that was wanting in the older Peachblow. The flesh is pure white and the quality excellent. Considerable discussion has at various times occurred concerning the relative merits of planting cut or whole tubers, but is yet undecided, each method having its ad- vocates ; a fact which goes far to prove that it is of little consequence which way is followed. The best rule, iu our experience is, to plant the whole small tubers if fully matured, and cut the larger ones, but in either case leaving enough in bulk of the potato to give sufficient sustenance to the plant. The superintendent of one of the State Experimental VEGETABLES POTATO. 271 Stations, in a recent report on experiments made with Potatoes, gave it as his opinion that by continually selecting the best tubers, a variety could be permanently improved. Believing this to be an error which should not go forth unchallenged from such an authority, I take the liberty, at the risk of a slight digression, to give a few facts which argue against the belief, published by me in an agricultural journal in 1885, under the head of "Do Plants Vary when Propagated by Cuttings?" On reading what is said about "seed" Potatoes, I notice the assertion is made that "seed" taken from the most productive hills gave a larger yield of tubers than that taken from the least productive. I am inclined to believe that further experiments will show that this in- creased productiveness will not continue to hold, because the reason for the greater or less yield was probably only an accident of circumstances specially favorable condi- tions of the set made to form the hill, or by being highly fertilized, or some such cause that gave it this tempo- rary advantage and that the chances are all against any permanent improvement being made by such selections. The Potato is said to have been introduced into Europe in 1584. If the original tubers had had the highest cultivation that the skill of man could give, it is exceedingly doubtful if 300 years of culture would have changed them in the slightest degree, if propagation had been solely from the tubers, and not from seed proper. I base this opinion on a very extended experience in the cultivation of plants from cuttings. Strawberry plants taken from any well known kind, such as Sharp- less, for example, from strong, vigorous growing plants, will certainly give better results than from weak plants of the same kind planted in the same soil. But if the progeny of the strong and the weak plants are again taken and replanted, the difference between the two would hardly *be perceptible after they had been growing to- 272 GARDE^IKG FOR PROFIT. gether under the some conditions. Every now and then we hear of varieties of fruits or flowers, said to be de- generating, that are propagated from cuttings, grafts or roots. I believe there is no such thing as permanent de- generation of any fruit, flower or vegetable that is raised from cuttings, grafts or roots. The Jargonelle Pear, the Ribston Pippin Apple, the Hamburg Grape or the Keen Seedling Strawberry of the English gardens, are found to look just as good and as bad, under different conditions of culture, as they were fifty or 100 years ago, and that any change, either for better or worse, is only an accident of circumstances, and temporary. For, be it remembered, that when a plant is raised from, cuttings, as in the grape-vine, grafts as in a Pear, or layers as in a Straw- berry, or pieces of the tuber as in a Potato, such parts, are not seed proper, but are merely parts of the same indi- vidual that was first called into existence. The Early Rose Potato, introduced nearly a -quarter of a century ago, is just as good to-day, under proper cultivation, as when first introduced, but it is certainly no better. It is often to be found under unfavorable circumstances, and then may be supposed to have degenerated ; but when it is shown, under other circumstances, to be as fine as when first introduced, how can the assertion of permanent degeneracy be admitted ? Permanent improvement, in my opinion, in varieties, can only be made by the selection of the fittest speci- mens that have been raised from seed proper. Here we have, as in the Early Rose Potato, the Sharpless Straw- berry and the Concord Grape, varieties that have shot ahead of their fellows, having merits that the general public recognize, but all the art of man cannot further improve these, so that their "progeny" (to use a con- venient, though, perhaps, not a strictly correct term), when increased by "sets," "layers" and "cuttings," will be permanently bettor or worse than when first VEGETABLES POTATO. 273 called into existence. It is a very common error, when a luxuriant crop of anything is seen growing under specially good culture, to imagine that cuttings, roots or grafts from such plants must necessarily give similar results when the same conditions to grow such crops well are not present. Not long ago Boston was famed foy its Rosebuds, and even experienced florists paid double price for stock from such plants, only to find that in their hands these plants would not produce Boston Rosebuds. Now the case is changed. Madison, New Jersey, as a whole, beats Boston in Rose culture, and the demand has changed from Boston to Madison, and, of course, with the same results, for, if the purchasers of Madison Roses cannot give Madison culture, there will be no Madison Rosebuds. While we admit the advan- tage of a healthy stock, and even, perhaps, the value of a change of stock, what I claim is, that no culture will permanently change the variety from its normal condi- tion, and that the only advance that can be made is by selecting the best specimens, hybridizing these from their seed, again selecting, and so on forward. To be sure, we have in rare instances what are known to gardeners as " sports," or what Darwin has called "bud variation," which may be improvements on the original variety or the reverse ; but culture, good or bad, has nothing to do with such anomalous cases. We often see it asserted as a matter for wonder, that the wild Celery of English marshes, or the wild Carrot of the hedge rows, have attained their present high condition by "cultivation." If cultivation means that man has through generations "selected the fittest" of these again and again, taking always the " flower of the flock," GO as to have attained the present perfection, then that is true ; but if by " cultivation" is meant that te domestication " by high culture, manuring, etc., in a garden or a field has caused such results, then, in my humble opinion, it is not true. 274 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. PUMPKIN. (Cucurbita Pepo.) The Pumpkin is yet offered in large quantities for sale in our markets, but it ought to be banished from them as it has for some time been from our gardens. But the good people of our cities are suspicious of all innovations in what is offered them to eat, and it will be many years yet before the masses will understand that the modest, and sometimes uncouth looking, Squash is immeasurably superior, for all culinary purposes, to the mammoth, rotund Pumpkin. The Pumpkin is an excellent agricul- tural plant, of great value for cattle, but I only allude to it here, to denounce its cultivation or use as a garden vegetable. RADISH. (Raphanus sativus.) Eadishes are consumed in immense quantities, and are one of the vegetables which we deem of no little im- portance as a market crop. To have them early, a light rich soil is the best ; heavy or clayey soils not only delay their maturing, but produce crops much inferior, both in appearance and flavor. They are grown by us by various methods ; the most common is, after sowing a crop of Beets in rows fourteen or fifteen inches apart, to sow Radishes between. The Radishes come up quick- ly, and are gathered and sold usually in six weeks from the time of sowing. The Beets at this time have only become large enough to be thinned, and will not be ready for at least a month later, so that the Radish crop is taken from same ground with little or no injury to the Beet crop. Another method is, to sow them be- tween the rows of Early Cabbages or Cauliflowers, where they also are gathered off so soon as not to interfere with these crops. VEGETABLES EADISH. 275 These are the methods practiced in our gardens here, where land is so valuable that we must make it always carry double, and often treble, crops in a season. Radishes are also grown in some places very extensively, on land devoted exclusively to that purpose in spring. Their culture thus is exceedingly simple. The ground being plowed and har- rowed well, the seed is sown, and the harrow again run over, which places the seed at the proper depth. But though the field cultiva- tion of this vegetable is simple, the labor of gathering, tying up, and washing, preparatory for market, is great, which detracts largely from the profits. Perhaps the average receipts are $300 per acre, but the expense, before this is realized, is probably one-half that amount. It must be remembered that, in many cases, it is an auxiliary crop, interfering but little with our main spring crops. It is one of the vege- tables convenient to ship, and the early sam- ples from Norfolk, Virginia, average $7.50 per barrel, of 200 bunches ; or about $750 .per acre, which should be a great inducement to south- ern cultivators, as there is but little danger of glutting the markets with fresh vegetables Fig. 81. shipped from a southern to a northBrn port. For forcing Radishes under glass, see Chapter Top - 10, on " Greenhouses for Forcing Vegetable Crops." Wood's Early Frame. This is a favorite with market gardeners, as it is at least ten days earlier than the' Long Scarlet Radish,, which it very much resembles, although it is not hardly as long. Long Scarlet Short-Top. This variety is grown the country over in rather the largest quantity, as from its shape (when tied up in flat bunches), it is best suited to 76 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. shipping. In rich, light soils its average length is about nine inches. (See figure 81.) Beckert's Chartier Radish, This, shown in figure 82, is decidedly distinct in appearance from any other Radish in cultivation. Its form is well shown by our engraving, the color at the top being crimson, running into pink about the middle, and from thence downward it is a pure waxy white. It will attain a very large size before it becomes unfit for the table. In fact, at nearly all stages of its growth the quality is excellent. It sold rapidly in market during the past season. Early Scarlet Turnip, More delicate in flavor than the above, and for this rea- son more in demand for home consumption. By al- lowing it sufficient time to grow, it attains a size of three inches in diameter, but it is always gathered at half this size. Early Round Dark Red, The shape is the same as that of the Early Scarlet Turnip, and it differs only in the skin, being darker in color, and in making much smaller tops. On this account it is now very largely used for forcing in both frames and greenhouses. This and the preceding varieties are the sorts that are grown most largely for early marketing. (See figure 83.) Red ForcSnsr Turnip, The tops of this variety are the smallest of any of the early Radishes, which, with Fig. 82. BECKEKT'S CnAKTIEK RADISH. VEGETABLES RADISH. its extreme earliness, make it especially valuable for strictly forcing purposes. White Tipped Scarlet Turnip, (See figure 84.) An Fig. 83. EAELY ROUND DARK Fig. 84. WHITE TIPPED TURNIP KED KADISH. RADISH. early variety of medium size, very handsome in appear- ance, and of excellent flavor. French Breakfast, (See figure 85.) A variety of quick growth, very mild and tender, and one of the best Fig. 85. FRENCH BREAKFAST RADISH. Fig. 86. YELLOW SUMMER TURNIP BADISH. for forcing. Of oval form ; color, scarlet, tipped with white. 278 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. Olive-Shaped Scarlet, Of oblong shape ; flesh, rose- color, and a good summer variety. Later varieties, grown for fall and winter use : Yellow and Gray Summer Turnip, Varieties well suited for summer use, as they stand the heat better than the early sorts. Both are mild in flavor. The yellow variety is shown in figure 86 ; the other is like it, save in color. Chinese Rose-colored Winter. Excellent for winter use ; flesh, firm ; skin of a bright rose color. Long and Round Black Spanish. Very hardy vari- eties. They are often preserved, keeping as well as any other ropt, in sand, until mid-winter, in a cellar or root- house. They are of large size, but rather harsh in flavor. Color, grayish-black. RHUBARB. (Wieum Ehaponticum). Rhubarb is now cultivated largely for market purposes in the vicinity of all large cities, and few private gar- dens are without it. Its culture is of the simplest kind. It is a plant that adapts itself to almost any soil, pro- vided it is well drained, artificially or otherwise. The preferable soil for Rhubarb, as for most vegetables, is a deep, sandy loam. Whatever the soil, it should be plowed from ten to twelve inches deep, the subsoil plow following in the wake of the other, stirring to the depth of ten or twelve inches more ; after plowing, harrow deeply and thoroughly. After the soil is prepared, lines are struck out by the plow four feet apart from each side of the field or plot, so that they will intersect at right angles. At these points the plants are set, first mixing with the soil three or four shovelfuls of well-rotted manure for each plant. VEGETABLES RHUBARB. 279 The time of planting in the Northern or Western States may be either in the fall or spring ; at the South the full is preferable. Rhubarb is usually propagated by division of the old roots ; each eye or bud, when broken apart with a root attached, forming a plant. But making a plantation of any great extent in this way is expensive to the begin- ner ; as the roots are rarely to be purchased under $50 per 1,000 eyes, and as about 3,000 plants are required for an acre, quite an outlay is necessary. This expense may be obviated by increasing the plants by seeds, instead of by division of the roots. In the Northern States, the best time to sow the seed is about the middle of April, in the open ground, in rows a foot apart, if the plants are to be again transplanted ; if to be left where sown, the rows must be three feet apart, and the plants thinned out in the rows to one foot apart. But as this latter plan requires the occupation of the land too long, the usual way is to sow closely and trans- plant. Care must be taken that the seed is well trodden in with the feet, as it is very light and rather slow to germinate. The soil best suited is a rich sandy loam, which should be thoroughly pulverized, and the surface made completely level before sowing. The plants may be transplanted from the seed-bed either in fall or spring. The first season after planting, no stalks should be pulled, but the next year a full return may be expected if proper attention has been given to cultivation. It is exceedingly difficult to name the annual profits from an acre of Rhubarb in full bearing, as everything depends upon earliness. Even here, in the vicinity of New York, growers vary in their statements from $100 to $300 per acre. The difference of a week in earliness often makes a difference of $150 and $200. It may be safe to say, however, that it will average, in 280 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. this vicinity, a profit of $250 per acre annually from the date of planting ; in many places where there is less competition, no doubt double or treble that amount may be realized. Rhubarb is a most simple and convenient plant for forcing, which may be done in the following manner : Tho roots are dug from the open ground in fall, put close together in a box or barrel, and soil sifted in to fill the interstices between the roots ; they are then placed in a situation where the temperature will range from fifty-five to about seventy-five degrees, with a moderate amount of moisture. By this treatment Rhubarb may be had from January to April. The roots may be placed wherever there is the necessary temper- ature. Light is not at all necessary ; in fact, the stalks of Rhubarb are much more crisp and tender when forced without exposure to direct light ; hence the roots may be placed in the furnace room of a cellar, under the staging of a greenhouse, or in an early forcing grapery. A florist in Boston told me a few years ago, that he had sold enough Rhubarb, grown under his greenhouse stages, to pay his coal bill (over $100), besides having all he wanted for his family use. Rhubarb is forced quite ex- tensively by some of our market gardeners ; the method pursued by them is to lift the roots from the open ground in the fall, place them as closely together as pos- sible in such pits or frames as are used for hot-beds, but about two feet deep, sifting in soil so as to fill the spaces between the roots. On the approach of cold weather, the whole is covered over with a foot or so of dry leaves, and so remains until about February first, when the leaves are removed and sashes placed 011 the frames. Sometimes this is not done until March, the sashes being then used which have been covering Cabbage plants through the winter. But little ventilation is given to the frames at this cold season, as it is necessary to raise the temperature of the frame by the action of the sun's VEGETABLES RHl'BARH. 281 rays, so as to forward the crop. It greatly aids the for- warding if the sashes are covered up at night by straw mats or shutters. Rhubarb so forced matures about one month before it is marketable from the open ground, and averages about $10 for each three by six foot sash. It must be borne in mind, however, that forcing com- Fi..-ne kind in July or August, though offered at ont-ufth the price. He will give fifty cents per quart for Tomatoes (half-ripe), in June, that he could not be induced to touch in October, if he could buy them at twenty-five cents per bushel. The Cucumbers, planted in cold frames and forcing- pits, are also marketable in the latter part of this month. Great care must be taken to have amdantly watered in dry weather ; inattention t^ "ring (par- ticularly of all vegetables under glass), is sure to entail loss on the cultivator, by giving an imperf r partial crop. Watering had better be done in the ev?ning, unless chilly, whenever the surface appears dry, net by a mere sprinkling, but by a thorough soaking ret less than a gallon to every square yard of surface. As soon as the Cucumbers are all cut from the frames, the sashes should be piled up at the ends of each section and covered with a shutter, and a weight of some kind put on the top, to prevent these from being blown off by high winds. JULY. The remaining part of the spring crops a>'e cleared off in the early days of this month, and by the middle of it, unless the season is unusually dry, all the ground is planted with the second crops of Celery, Sage, MONTHLY CALENDAR. 365 Thyme, Late Cabbage, Broccoli, Cauliflower, or Leeks. Little is done to these crops this month, as but little growth is made during the hot, dry weather, and newly planted crops are merely stirred between the rows with the hoe or cultivator. Some of the other later crops are now maturing for market. Bush Beans, Cucumbers, Potatoes, Squashes, and, in early places, Tomatoes ; also succession crops of Peas, Beets, Onions, Cabbages, etc., such of these as only mature during the end of the month, render the second crops rather late, unless for the later crops of Celery and Spinach. AUGUST. Except the months of January and Febru- ary, August is a month requiring less labor in the mar- ket garden than any other. Usually all the planting has been done in July, and the long drouths, common at this season, stagnate the growth of even our most luxuriant weeds, so that in this month, of all others, the garden ought to be clean. Late plantings of Celery may be made to the middle of the month, and still give fair-sized roots for winter. Spinach may also be sown for an early crop, to be cut off in fi.'.l. Euta Baga Turnips should be sown early in the month, and the white and yellow varieties during the later part. Be careful now, if the land is dry, to firm after sowing. (See "Use of the Feet in Sowing and Planting.") If the "fly" attacks them, it may be kept down, so as to do but little harm, by frequent applica- tions of lime dusted lightly over the rows. Bush Beans and Peas may still be sown for late crops. For Peas for late sowing, we found our "First of All" variety the best. In 1886, a crop sown 25th of August was marketed late in October, and sold at excellent prices. The Onion crop will ripen off during this month, and when convenient to market, should be offered for sale as soon as gathered, as the price received for those first sold is frequently double that of those coming in ten days later. 36G GARDENING FOR PttOFIT. SEPTEMBER, The cool nights and moist atmosphere of this month begin to tell strikingly on the crops planted for fall use. Celery, Cabbage and Cauliflower now grow rapidly, and require repeated stirring of the soil with the plow, cultivator, or hoe. Celery that is wanted for use towards the latter part of the month may now be " handled " or straightened up, and the earth drawn to it by the hoe ; in a week or so after it may be ' ' banked up " by the spade to half its height, allowed to grow for another week or more, until it lengthens out a little further, when the banking should be continued as high as its top. In ten days (at this season), when thus finished, it is blanched sufficiently to use, and should then be used, or it will soon spoil. Care must be taken that no more is banked up than can be sold or used, as it is not only labor lost, but is decidedly hurtful to the Celery by making it hollow. The practice recommended by most authorities, and still followed by private gar- deners, is to keep earthing it up every two weeks from the time it begins to grow ; this is utter nonsense, re- sulting in making tough, stringy, and rusty Celery utterly unfit to eat, while the expenditure m labor would be twice more than the price it would usually bring if sold ; for further information on this important subject, see Chapter on Celery. The seeds of Cauliflower, Cabbage and Lettuce should be sown this month, from the 15th to the 25th, for the purpose of being pricked out in cold frames to be wintered over. It is very im- portant that the sowing should be done as near these dates as possible, for if sown much before the 15th the plants may run up to seed when planted out in spring ; if much later than the 25th, they would be too weak to be wintered over. Shallots and Onions should also be planted this month, and Spinach and German Greens, or " Sprouts," sown to be wintered over, all now for spring use. MONTHLY CALENDAR. 367 OCTOBER. This month corresponds in part to June of the summer months, being that in which the returns from the second crops come in. Celery that has been banked or earthed up, now sells freely and in consider- able quantities. All the crop should this month be " handled," and, as much as possible, earthed up. Cauli- flower is usually scarce and dear in the early part of this month, but unless the fall has been unusually moist, is generally not matured until towards the end of the month. Thyme, Sage and all Sweet Herbs should now be sold, from the beginning of the month, cutting- out only every alternate row, as it gives the crop time to grow, so that the remaining rows spread sufficiently to fill the space. (See article on Thyme, etc.) The crops planted or sown last month must now be carefully hoed and the weeds removed ; for, though weeds are not quite so numerous in variety as in summer, Chickweed, now very abundant, is one of the most ex- pensive weeds of the garden to eradicate. The plants of Cabbage, Cauliflower and Lettuce, re- commended to be sown last month, are now fit to be pricked out in the cold frames. (See detail of the process, page 45.) NOVEMBER. This month warns us that winter is ap- proaching, and preparations should be carefully made towards securing all products of the garden that are perishable by frost. The process of putting away the Celery crop in trenches for winter use (see Celery article), should be begun about the 5th or 10th of the month in dry weather. That put in trenches then will be blanched sufficiently for use in six or eight weeks, but when suffi- cient help can be obtained, it will always pay well to bank or earth up a large portion of Celery by the spade, clear to the top ; this will usually keep it safe from injury from any frost that we have in this month, and thus protected it need not be put away into winter 368 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. quarters the trenches before the end of November. Put away thus late, it will keep usually without the loss of a root until March or April, when it is always scarce and high in price. The great difficulty most persons have is from stowing it away and covering it up too early ; this practice of earthing it up to the top roughly in November we have only recently practised, but find the extra labor well repaid, as we are enabled thus to save this very valuable crop without loss. There is rarely need of applying any covering of leaves or litter to the trenches this month, and it cannot be too often told that the covering up of vegetables of all kinds in winter quarters should be delayed to the very last moment that it is safe to do so. Beets, Carrots, Cabbages and Cauli- flowers must be dug up and secured this month in the manner recommended in " Preserving Vegetables in Winter." Horseradish, Salsify and Parsnips, being en- tirely hardy and frost proof, need not necessarily be dug, although from the danger of their being frozen in the ground next month, if time will permit the work had better be progressing. All clear ground should be dug or plowed, and prop- erly leveled, so that on the opening of spring operations can be begun with as little delay as possible. If draining is required this is the most convenient time to do it, the ground being clear and not yet much frozen. Towards the end of the month the sashes should be put on the Cabbage and Lettuce plants in cold nights, but on no account should they be kept on in day-time, as it is of the utmost importance that they be not made tender at this time by being " drawn" under the sashes. I may again repeat that these plants are half hardy, and it is killing them with kindness to protect them from slight freezing. Cabbage and Lettuce plants may be ex- posed in any place without glass or other protection where the thermometer runs no lower than ten above MONTHLY CALENDAR. 369 zero. Rhubarb and Asparagus beds will be benefited by a covering of four or six inches of rough manure, or any other litter, to prevent the severity of the frost ; the crop from beds thus covered will come in a few days earlier, and will be stronger than if left unprotected. DECEMBER. Occasionally we have the ground open, so that digging and plowing can bo done to nearly the end of the month, but it is not safe to calculate much after the first week ; though by covering up the roots, still undug, with their own leaves or with litter", we are often enabled to dig our Horseradish or Parsnips very late in the month, and, like all other vegetables, the later they remain in the soil they grow in the finer is the quality. Celery trenches should receive the first covering early in the month, if the weather has bsen such that it has been unnecessary before. The covering should not be less than four or five inches of litter or leaves, only taking care that the material is light ; weight or closeness would prevent evaporation too much at this season, while the weather is not yet severe. The find. covering should not be later than the end of the month. The crops of Spinach, Kale, Onions, Shallots, etc., that have been planted or sown in September, should be covered up with hay or straw if their position is much exposed ; if not, there is no particular necessity. When all has been secured safely in winter quarters, attention must be energetically turned to procuring manure, muck, and all available kinds of fertilizers. There is little dan- ger of spending too much in this way if you have it to spend ; depend upon it, there is no better investment if you are working your Garden for Profit. Straw and rope for straw mat making should always be on hand, so as to give employment to the hands in stormy weather. INDEX. Capital Required 17 Climate, Ours Different from England - 105 Crops, Rotation of 110 Cuttings, Variation of .Plants from-.. 273 Drainage - 28 Drain, Board 30 Flat Stone - 30 Rubble 30 Tile .--. 29 Fertilizers (See Manures) 88 Application of - - 39 Comparative Value of 39 Preparation of 38 Special 41 Forcing Pits 63 Frames, Cold, and Hot-beds .. 44 Airing 46 Cucumbers in - . .... 48 Frozen Plants in . . 49 Lettuce in 47 Protecting; Cloth for. 50 Seed Sowing in 49 Shelter for 45 Snow upon - - . . 49 Spring Raising of Cabbage Plants, Etc' '.. 51 Ground, Preparation of the... 31 "Hill," Meaning of the Term 224 Hot-beds 56 EggPlantsin 58 Frame for 56 Forcing Lettuce in 58 Manure for 57 Pepper Plants in -. 58 Sashes for 56 Straw Mats for 61 Sweet Potatoes in 60 Sowing in 108 Tomato Plants in 58 "When to Plant in 45 Importance of Ventilation 105 Houses, Forcing and Green- house Buildings and Ap- purtenances 66 Greenhouse for Forcing - . 73 John Hudson's -- 73 Heating of---- -. 76 HeatecTby Flue 70 (370) Heating by Return Flue' 84 Flues, Danger from _ _^ _ _ _ 70 Flue, How to Build 70, 87 Greenhouses, Profits of... 69 Pump for.- 66 Rotation in _ 67 Soil for 76 Vegetable. 24 Watering in 66 Sashes, How Fastened 65 Sashes, How to Glaze 75 Wells 24 IMPLEMENTS. Bunch er, Asparagus. 355 Dibble or Dibber 356 Drill, Planet Jr. Combined.... 354 Fork, Digging 346 Grater, Horseradish 356 Harrow, The Acme - - 348 The Disc 349 Garden 346 Triangular Adj ustable 347 Hoe, Horse, and Cultivator... 357 Prong ..-- 350 Push 350 Scuffle .--. 350 Single Wheel, Etc 358 Knife, Asparagus 355 Line, Garden, arid Reel 355 Marker, Adjustable 352 Plow, Cabbage 347 Roland Chilled 344 Slip Share for 345 Subsoil 345 Skeleton 347 Rake, Steel 350 Roller, Garden 351 Spade, Ames' First Quality. .. 346 Wagon, Market 353 Laying Out of Garden 24 Location of Garden 23 Manures (See also Fertilizers) 33 Alternation of 35 Ashes, Wood 43 BoneDust C5 Comparative Value of 36 Cotton-seed Meal 42 Gas Lime . - 42 INDEX. 371 Manures, Green Crops as 37 Peruvian Guano . . - 34 Preparing Guano, Etc 38 Hops, iiefuse 33 Horn Shavings.. 34 Horse 33 Lime 42 Marl 42 Muck 40 Night Soil .- 35 Plaster-- 43 Poudrette --- 40 Salt as 40 Sugar-house Scum 34. Whalebone, Refuse 34 Men Suited to G ardening 13 Monthly Calendar, January .. 358 February 360 March '. 360 April 362 May 362 June 363 July 364 August 365 September 366 October 367 November 367 December 369 Number of Plants to an Acre. 113 Plants for Frames, When to Sow 44 Plants propagated from Cut- tings, Do they Vary ?. _ 273 Profits of Gardening 20 Rosebuds, Boston 273 Rosebuds, Madison 273 Seeds and Seed Raising 89 Cabbage become Annual. 105 California, Seed Growing in '- 91 Celery, Success in Sowing &4 Failing to Germinate 94 Feet, Use of, in Sowing .. 93 "Firming" the Soil over Seeds 98 How, When and Where to Sow 103 Indiscriminate Sowing ... 103 Quantity to Sow an Acre . Ill Quantity for a Given Num- ber of Plants 113 Soaking of 95 Soil for Sowing 107 Sown in Dry Weather . . . 94 Testing 89 Vitality of, Duration of . - 92 Wrongly Blaming the Seedsmen 104 Situation of Garden 24 SMALL FRUITS. Blackberries 334 Culture of 325 Kittatinuy 336 Lawton 386 Wilson's Early. 336 Currants.. o39 Black 339 Cherry 339 Fay 339 Red Dutch 339 White Dutch 339 Gooseberries 339 Downing 340 Houghton 340 Grapes.. 340 Age of Vines 340 Planting 343 Brighton - 343 Champion 343 Concord 344 Martha 343 Moore's Early 343 Niagara.. 343 Salem 343 Wilder 343 Raspberries 336 Covering in Winter 333 Brinkle's Orange 337 Caroline---.,-.. ..-- 337 Cuthbert 337 Gregg (Black-cap) 337 Hansell 337 Hudson River Antwerp . . . 337 Strawberries, Forcing 81 Forcing, Kinds for 83 Layering in Pots 327 Open Culture 325 Strawberries, Varieties of 328 Bidwe.ll 332 Crescent 333 Crimson Cluster 329 Downing 332 Henderson 328 Hoffman 332 Jersey Queen 333 Jewell 333 Parry 333 Sharpless 832 Wilson 333 Soil, Preparation of 31 Resting the 110 Selection of 25 "Sports". 273 Southern States, When to Sow and Plant in 311 Asparagus 311 Beans .. ..311 372 GARDENING- FOR PROFIT. Beets -- - 312 Cabbage 312 Cauliflower - 312 Celery 312 Collards 313 Cora -- 313 Cucumbers 313 Egg Plant .-- 313 Greens, German 314 Lettuce 314 Melon, Musk and Water. . 313 Okra or Gumbo 314 Onion 314 Peas 314 Potato, White 314 Potato, Sweet 314 Radish 314 Rhubarb 315 Turnips 315 Spinach - - - 315 Squash 315 Tomato-. 315 Transplanting 114 Variation in Plants 273 Vegetables, Hardy 107 Vegetables, Tender 107 Vegetable Plants, How to Plant 115 Vegetable Plants, How Much Cold Will They Endure .... 116 Varieties of Vegetables Too many.. 117 VEGETABLES, VARIETIES OF : Artichoke. 129 Chard 128 Common Green 129 Green Globe 129 Artichoke, Jerusalem 130 Varieties 130 Asparagus 118 At the South 124 Beetle --- 127 Buncher . 126 Fertilizers for 125 Gathering the Crop 126 Planting 119 Profits of 127 Propagation 118 Salt for - - 125 Van Siclen's Method 120 Without Transplanting..- 122 Asparagus, Varieties of 120 Colossal 120 Giant 128 Palmetto - 124 Balm .-.- 131 Basil 131 Bush --.. 131 Sweet... 131 Beans, Bush, Kidney and Pole 131 Beans, Dwarf Varieties - 133 Earliest Red Valentine .. - 133 Early Red Valentine Io4 Early Mohawk 134 Gallega 134 Large Refugee 134 Long Yellow Six-Weeks.. 134 Refugee J34 Thousand to One 134 White Marrowfat 134 Beans, Running or Pole 135 Lima, Dreer's Improved-- 130 Jersey Extra Early- - . 136 Large White 136 Giant Wax 137 German Wax 137 Horticultural 137 Scarlet Runn er 136 Speckled Cranberry 137 Beans, Wax, Black 134 Flageolet 135 Golden _ _ 135 Beet 138 Bastiau's Blood Turnip . . . 141 Dewing's Improved Blood Turnip 141 Early Blood Turnip 141 Eclipse 140 Egyptian Turnip _ ,. 140 Long Smooth Blood 141 Swiss Chard 141 Borecole, or Kale 142 Dwarf German Greens 142 Dwarf Green Curled Scotch 143 Purple 143 Siberian Dwarf Curled . . .. 142 Sprouts 142 Very Early Dwarf 143 Broccoli 144 Early Walcheren 145 Purple Cape 145 White Cape 145 Brussels Sprouts 145 Cabbage and Cauliflower 146 Aphis 155 Black Flea _ 155 Butterfly 155 Caterpillar 155 Club-root in 157 Green Fly on 155 Insects 155 In Southern States 151 " Jumping Jack " 155 Keeping in Winter - 154 Kinds for Early Crop 148 Late, Culture of. 152 Louse 155 INDEX. 373 Cabbage, Maggot 156 Plants, What Cold They will Endure 1 149 Seed 161 Slug 155 Soil and Manures 147 Wire Worm 156 Cabbages, Early 162 Early Flat Dutch 165 Early Jersey Wakefield--- 162 Early Winningstadt 165 Henderson's Early Sum- mer 164 Premier. 164 Cabbages, Late 165 American Drumhead Sa- voy 166 Felder Kraut 166 Fottler's Improved Bruns- wick 165 Mammoth Rock Red 167 Marblehead Mammoth -.. 166 Red Dutch 167 Selected Late Flat Dutch. 165 Turnip-rooted 212 Cardoon 169 Carrot 170 Danvers 172 Early French Forcing 171 Early Half-long Scarlet Carentan 172 Early Half-long Scarlet (Pointed Rooted) 172 IlalT-long Red (Stump Rooted). 171 Large White Belgian 173 Long Orange, Improved-. 172 Yellow Belgian 173 Cauliflower ... 167 Extra Early Dwarf Erfurt 169 Extra Early Paris 169 Half Early Paris 169 Henderson's Early Snow- ball 167 Large Late Algiers 169 Le Normand's Short- stemmed I 169 Nonpareil 169 Celery 174 Close Planting 179 Dwarf Kinds Preferred... 179 Earthing up 178 "Handling" 178 Planting Out 176 Profits of 184 Rust on-... 180 Shipping of 184 Sowing the Seed 174 Storing for Winter 180 Celery, Storing in Trenches. .. 180 In Cellars 182 Celery, Varieties of 185 Boston Market 188 Giant White Solid 189 Henderson's Golden Dwarf 185 Henderson's Half-Dwarf . 187 Henderson's Rose... 189 Major Clark's Pink 190 Sandringham 188 Turnip-rooted 1... 190 White Plume 186 Celeriac 190 Dwarf Apple-shaped 190 Chervil, Turnip-rooted 173 Chives 191 j Collards (Southern) ;... 195 I Corn Salad 191 ! Corn, Sweet 195 Planting 196 Profitable Crop of 196 Com. Sweet, Varieties of 197 Cory 197 Crosby's Early Sugar 1 97 Early Marblehead 197 Early Minnesota 197 Egyptian 198 Henderson 197 Mammoth Sugar 198* S quantum Sugar 197 Stowell's Evergreen 198 Cress .. 193 Upland 194 Water 192 Profits of 194 Cucumbers 199 How to Plant 199 The Pickle Crop 201 Cucumbers, Varieties of.. 201 Burr 203 Early Cluster 202 Early Russian 202 Green Prolific 203 Improved White Spine ... 201 Nichols' Medium Green . . 202 Egg Plant 203 ^BlackPekin 206 Long Purple 206 New York Improved 205 White-fruited 206 Endive 206 Broad-leaved Batavian ... 208 Green Curled 207 Moss Curled 207 Fetticus --.- 191 Gallic 208 Gherkin, West India 203 Greens, Dwarf German-. 142 374 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. Gumbo 241 Horseradish 208 The Sets 309 Planting 209 Profits of 212 In:lian Cress 240 Jerusalem Artichoke 130 Kale or Borecole 142, 291 Kohlrabi.. 212 Early White V iemia 213 Early PurDle Vienna 213 Leek 213 London Flag 214 Musselburgh 214 Lettuce ...... 214 Forcing in Hot-beds - 55 New York "Salad Patches" ; 216 Profits of 217 All the Year Round 222 Lettuce, Varieties ol 219 Black-seeded Simpson 220 Black-seeded Tennis Ball. 220 Boston Market 221 Early Curled Simpson 219 Large White Summer Cab- bage 221 New'York 221 Paris White Cos 222 Salamander 21 White-seeded Tennis Ball 221 Yello w-seeded Butter .... 221 Marjoram 308 Marjoram, Sweet... 223 Martynia 234 Melon, Musk 223 Culture of 224 Profit of 224 Soil for 225 Insects Injurious to 226 Melon, Musk, Varieties of 227 Baltimore.... 228 Early Hacken sack 227 Golden Netted Gem 228 Green Citron 230 Hackensack 228 Montreal Market 229 Melon, Water 230 Profits of 230 Melon, Water, Varieties of ... 231 Black Spanish 232 Citron 203 Gypsy .- 231 Ice Cream 231 Icing.... 232 Ice Kind... 232 Kolb's Gem 231 Mammoth Iron-clad 231 Mountain Sweet... .. 231 Melon, Water, Rattlesnake... 231 Phinney 's Early 231 Scaly Bark 232 Mint 233 Mushroom 234 Making the Bed 336 Making the Spawn 230 Preparing Manure for 236 Spawning the Bed - 236 Mustard 234 Black.... 234 White. 284 Nastuitium 240 Dwarf 240 Tall 240 New Zealand Spinach 290 Okra 241 Onions-... _____ 241 Harvesting 249 Insects Injurious to 249 Farm Crop, As a 243 Profits of - 250 Manures for 245 Planting.. 242 Preparing the Giound 246 Profits of 243 Sowing the Seed 247 Sowing in Fall 243 Sets - 243 Storing the Crop 249 Weeding the Crop !247 Onions, Varieties of... 251 Bermuda 252 Extra Early Flat Red 252 Giant Rocca 253 Large Red Wethersfi eld. _ 251 Large Red Italian Tripoli. 254 LargeWhite Italian Tripoli 245 Neopolitan Marzajola 253 Queen 253 Southport Large Yellow Globe -- 251 Southport Red Globe 252 Southport White Globe .. 252 Silver-skin 253 White Portugal 253 Yellow Dutch--.. 253 Yellow Globe Danvers. ... 251 Onions, Potato 254 Onions, Top 254 Orach 291 Oyster Plant 282 Parsley, in Winter 255 Pai sley, Varieties of 256 Double Curled 256 Fern-leaved 256 Hamburgh 257 Henderson's Emerald 256 Plain .. ..257 TN T DEX. 375 Parsley, Turnip-rooted 257 Parsnip '.. 357 Early Round. 258 Hollow-crowned 258 The Student 258 Pea, Varieties of : . 258 Alaska 261 American Wonder 261 Black-eyed Marrowfat 264 Bliss' Abundance 263 Bliss' Everbearing 263 Champion of England 263 First of All 260 Improved Dan'l O'PvOurke 261 Kentish Invicta 261 McLean's Advancer 261 Premium Gem 261 Stratagem 263 Pride of the Market 264 Telephone 263 Yorkshire Hero 263 White Marrowfat 264 Pepper, Varieties of 264 Bull Nose 264 Cranberry 265 Golden Dawn.. 265 Large Bell 264 Long Red Cayenne 265 Mammoth 264 Ruby King 265 Squash 265 Sweet Mountain 264 Tomato-shaped 265 Pepper Grass 193 Potato 265 Diseases of 266 Colorado Beetle 266 Tubers, Cut or Whole. ... 270 Potatoes, Varieties of 267 Beauty of Hebron 267 Clark's No. 1 269 Early Rose... 267 Empire State 268 Pearl of Savoy 267 Perfect Peach Blow 269 Rochester Favorite 269 Rural Blush 269 St. Patrick 269 Triumph 269 Vanguard 267 White Elephant 268 Potato Onions 254 Pumpkin 274 Radish as a Succession Crop.. 275 Forcing 77 Radish, Varieties of 275 Beckert's Chartier 276 Chinese Rose-colored, Winter 278 Radish, Early Round Dark Red 276 French Breakfast 277 Gray Summer Turnip 278 Long Black Spanish 278 Long Scarlet Short-top. .. 275 Olive-shaped 278 Red Forcing Turnip 27 9 Round Black Spanish .... 278 White-tipped Scarlet Tur- nip 277 Yellow Summer Turnip . . 278 Rhubarb 278 Forcing 279 Linnaeus 281 St. Martins 281 Victoria 281 RutaBaga 307 Sage ..." 308 Salsify 282 Salsify, Black 283 Savory, Summer 308 Scorzonera 283 Sea Kale 283 Blanching 284 Shallots 285 Sorrel 285 Spinach 286 Profits of 287 Spinach, Varieties of 289 Large Round Leaf Viroflay 290 Long Standing 290 Norfolk Savoy-leaved 289 Prickly 290 Round Leaf 290 Thick-leaved 290 Spinach, New Zealand 290 Spinach, Substitutes for 290 Sprouts 142, 291 Squash, Summer Varieties 291 Boston Marrow 293 Bush Crookneck 293 Yellow and White Bush Scalloped 2G2 Fall and Winter \aricties: Essex Hybrid 293 Hubbard 293 Mammoth Chili 294 Marblehead 294 Vegetable Marrow . _ . 294 Winter Crookneck... 294 Summer Savory 308 Swedes or Swedish Turnips..- 307 Sweet Herbs 308 Sweet M arjoram .223, 308 Sweet Potato 295 Starting the Plants 297 Sets or Draws. 296 Nansemond 297 Red Skinned 297 376 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. Sweet Potato, Yellow Skinned. 297 Swiss Chard (See Beet) 141 Thyme 308 Tomato 298 Earlinessin 300 Profits of 299 Saving Seeds of 300 Tomato, Varieties of 301 Acme 301 Canada Victor 303 General Grant 303 Hathaway 's Excelsior .... 303 Mikado 301 Paragon 301 Perfection 303 Plum, Bed and Yellow ... 303 Tomato, Trophy 303 Top Onions 254 Turnip, Varieties of 304 Amber Globe 306 Extra Early Milan 306 Golden Bail 306 Purple-top Strap-leaf 306 Purple-top White Globe.- 306 Red-top Strap-leaf 306 Seven-top 307 Snowball 306 Snow-white 307 Turnip, Ruta Baga Kinds .... 307 Improved American 307 Large White French 308 Shamrock 308 ALPHABETICAL CATALOGUE 0. Judd Co,, David W. Judd, Pres't, ""* \ . > PUBLISHERS AND IMPORTERS OF S^=T-\ y All Works pertaining to Rural Life. 'T'Sl ZBroa,d.-^ra,3r, USTe-w "STorls. Agriculture, Horticulture, Etc. Allen, R. L. and L. F. New American Farm Book ...$ 2.50 American Farmer's Hand Book 2.50 Asparagus Culture. Flex, cloth so Bamford,C. E. Silk Culture. 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